Sports and Youth Welfare Minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia felicitated selected players and trainers of the State's highest sports awards including Vikram, Eklavya, Vishwamitra and Lifetime Achievement awards. Arjun awardee Olympian Padmashri Sushil Kumar, Madhya Pradesh Olympic Sangh President Ramesh Mendola, Rowing Federation of India President Rajalakshmi Singhdeo, Additional Chief Secretary, Sports and Youth Welfare M Mohanrao, Director, Sports and Youth Welfare DSL Thaosen were present.
Scindia said that DNA does not have any importance in sports. Hard work and firm determination always proves helpful in reaching the goal. If we change our negativity to positivity, we will be successful. She said that the state has created new history in sports in the last four years.
The state has gained recognition in the international level. Now Olympics is the goal. Efforts are being made to provide state-of-the-art international level facilities for high performance and for training by international trainers to the players.
Players including Muskan Kirar, Harshit Tomar and Vivek Sagar, who won medals for India in the Asian Games in Jakarta were specially felicitated at the Shikhar Khel Alankaran Samaroh by the Madhya Pradesh government. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had announced to honour the players who won medals at the Asian Games with cash incentives.
Muskan Kirar was presented with Rs 75 lakhs as incentive amount for winning silver medal in the Archery Compound Team Event at the Asian Games. A sum of Rs 10 lakh was presented to her main coach Richpal Singh and Rs 5 lakh to her assistant coach Ashok Yadav. Rs 50 lakh was given to Harshit Tomar of National Sailing School in the 4.7 Open Class in sailing, Rs 10 lakh to his main coach Arjun awardee JL Yadav and Rs 5 lakhs each to his assistant coach P Madhu and Anil Sharma.
A sum of Rs 10 lakh was given to his chief coach Ashok Kumar, Rs 10 lakh to Women Hockey Academy chief coach Paramjit Singh and Rs 5 lakh to Assistant Coach Vandana Uike. Eklavya awards were given to 215 junior players while Vikram awards were given to 10 players at the Samaroh. Three trainers received Vishwamitra awards while Sudhir Verma of Dhar was felicitated with lifetime achievement award for his special contribution in Badminton sports.
Padmashree Sushil Kumar said that sports facilities being provided in Madhya Pradesh are not being provided anywhere else.
Players should take full advantage of them. Also, focus on your game and give results. Players get a boost when they are given awards as an incentive.
Now it is the responsibility of the players to give good results.
This year, 15 players were awarded with the Ekalavya Award. These include 5 players from Indore, 3 from Bhopal, 3 from Jabalpur, 2 from Hoshangabad and one player each from Bhind and Gwalior.
The 10 players who have been awarded with Vikram Award this year include 5 from Bhopal, two from Indore, one player each from Hoshangabad, Rajgarh and Shahdol.
This year, Vishwamitra award was given to Vinod Mishra (Canoeing-Kayaking) Bhopal and Mutum Ibomacha Singh (Cycling) Jabalpur in individual sports and Ghanshyam Chaudhary (Kabaddi) Indore in the team game.
This year, the Life Time Achievement Award was given to Sudhir Verma of Dhar for his outstanding contribution in Badminton.