Over a week before the Asian Games, the Punjab Government on Wednesday announced to reward the medal winners with the cash prizes.
Announcing the same, the state Sports Minister Rana Gurjit Singh Sodhi said that the Gold, Silver and the Bronze medal winners would be rewarded with the cash prizes of Rs 26 lakh, Rs 16 lakh and Rs 11 lakh respectively.
“A function would be held after the Asiad in which the medal winners from Punjab in this year’s Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast as well as those from the Asiad in Jakarta would be felicitated with the cash prizes,” he said after touring the sports complexes at sector-63 and 78.
Expressing strong hope that the Indian contingent would perform exceedingly well in the ensuing Asiad starting from August 18 at Jakarta (Indonesia), Sodhi said that we have big expectations considering the large number of players from Punjab in the team.
“The players from Punjab are participating in large number in the Asian Games. More than half strength of hockey and rowing teams comprises of Punjabi players. The number of players from Punjab including all the sports comes to more than 40 which is why there are big expectations of medals from them,” he said.
Terming it as a matter of honour for Punjab, he said that the hockey team selected for Asiad has eight players from Punjab while the rowing team has nine. Apart from this, handball team has three female and two male players, athletics has three, cycling, shooting, wrestling and women’s kabaddi has two while martial art and weightlifting has one player each from Punjab. He expressed confidence that Punjabi players would shine in the Asiad.