Neeraj, Olympians from Punjab to be honored at felicitation function
Punjab Sports Minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi on Tuesday said the state government will honor Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra and Tokyo Games medal winners and participants from Punjab with cash awards worth Rs. 32.67 crore at a felicitation function on August 12. Sodhi said Chief Minister Amarinder Singh will honor the Olympians while Punjab Governor VP Singh Badnore would be the special guest.
Chopra will be honored with cash reward of Rs. 2.51cr
He said as per the special announcement of the chief minister, Chopra, who has deep roots in Punjab, would be honored with a cash reward of Rs. 2.51 crore. Earlier, the Punjab government had announced Rs. 2 crore cash reward for Chopra.
Cash reward for 11 players from the state also increased
Sodhi said that the cash reward for 11 players from the state, who were part of the Indian hockey team which won a medal (bronze) after 41 years, has also been increased from the earlier announcement of Rs. 1 crore to Rs. 2.51 crore each. The Indian hockey team is led by Manpreet Singh and he is from Punjab, said Sodhi.
Women's hockey team members, Kamalpreet Kaur will also be honored
Vice-captain Harmanpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Simranjit Singh, Mandeep Singh, Gurjant Singh, Shamsher Singh, Varun Kumar, Dilpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, and Krishan Pathak were also from Punjab, Sodhi said. The members of the Indian women's hockey team, which finished fourth, from the state, Reena Khokhar, and Gurjit Kaur, and discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur, who took sixth position, will be given Rs. 50 lakh each.
Cash reward amount increased to promote sports: Sodhi
Boxer Simranjit Kaur, shooters Anjum Moudgill and Angadveer Singh, athletes Tejinder Pal Singh Toor and Gurpreet Singh and paralympic badminton player Palak Kohli will also be given Rs. 21 lakh each, he said. Sodhi said that the chief minister has increased the cash award amount for the Olympic medalists with a view to further promote sports in the state.
