Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu yesterday gave away cash rewards amounting to Rs 14.77 crore to 21 international medal winners at a function organised here today.
He said that the state government was committed to rewarding the struggles of sportspersons and fostering a strong sports culture in the state.
Sukhu said, “My government has made an unprecedented increase in the prize money to encourage players and inspire the youth to participate in sports.
The prize money for athletes overcoming physical challenges has been increased eightfold to bring it on a par with the reward for able-bodied players.”
He said that the prize money for gold medal winners in the Olympics, Winter Olympics and Paralympics had been increased from Rs 3 crore to Rs 5 crore while the silver and bronze medallists would now receive Rs 3 crore and Rs 2 crore, respectively.
“For the Asian Games and the Para Asian Games, the prize money for the gold medallists had been increased from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 4 crore, from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 2.50 crore for silver medallists and from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 1.50 crore for the bronze medallists.
The Commonwealth Games medallists will now get Rs 3 crore, Rs 2 crore and Rs 1 crore for gold, silver, and bronze medals, respectively,” he added.
The Chief Minister said that his government had also hiked the diet money for players. “The Under-17 and under-19 players now receive Rs 400 and Rs 500 per day for the state and national-level competitions as compared to Rs 150 and Rs 250 earlier.
For under-14 players, the allowance has been increased to Rs 250 and Rs 400 from Rs 120 and Rs 250,” he added
He said that sportspersons staying in hostels were now getting Rs 400 per day. Besides, the government had also revised the travel allowances — players are entitled to the AC three-tier fare for distances up to 200 km and the economy class airfare for longer distances.
Youth Services and Sports Minister Yadvinder Goma thanked the Chief Minister for increasing in the prize and diet money of the sportspersons.
