Himachal Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Sunday inaugurated the 9th Women National Ice Hockey Championship-2022 at Ice Skating Rink, Kaza in Lahaul Spiti district and said that ice hockey is one of the most popular winter sports of the world.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that it was for the first time that the National Level Ice Hockey Competition and Development Camp was being held in the state.
He said that this event would give an added boost to the tourism development in the region besides promoting ice hockey amongst the younger generation. This sports is quite popular in Uttrakhand, Ladakh, Kashmir and other Himalayan states.
This sport would give a big boost to tourism development in this land locked hinterland. Teams from Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Ladakh, ITBP Ladakh, Chandigarh and Delhi are participating in this mega event, he said.
Thakur further said that the State Government has recently given approval to the Swaran Jayanti Sports Policy 2021 to give boost to sports activities in Himachal. Under this policy, three percent reservation would be provided to sportspersons in government jobs and the diet money received by the players would be doubled.
Under the new sports policy, a prize money of Rs 3 crore would be given for winning a gold medal in the Olympics, Winter Olympics or Paralympics. Silver medalist will get Rs 2 crore and the bronze medalist will get Rs. 1 crore Along with this, Rs 15 lakh would be given for participating in the above games and Olympic, Asian, Commonwealth medal winners would be given pension and Arjuna Award, Dhyan Chand Award and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award holders would get monthly salary, he added.
The Chief Minister also said that the State Government has announced the High-Altitude Sports Center in Kaza with an estimated cost of Rs 16 crore. Skate Boots have been provided by the Department of Youth Services and Sports for training the players at a cost of Rs 27 lakhs and Ice rinks have been developed by the administration on a small scale in Lidang, Sagnam, Losar, Tabo, Hikmi, he said.