Felicitating medal winners, participants and support staff from the Armed forces, who took part in the recently concluded 19th Asian Games at Hangzhou, China, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday announced cash prizes to military personnel who won medals. As per this, gold medal winners will get ₹25 lakh, ₹15 lakh for silver medal and ₹10 lakh for Bronze medal.
Mr. Singh interacted with a total of 76 players and staff, who attended the event in New Delhi, and congratulated them for their excellent display at the Games, a Defence Ministry statement said. In all Service personnel bagged 16 individual medals — three Gold, six Silver and seven Bronze and eight team medals, which includes two Gold, three Silver and three Bronze.
A contingent of 88 soldiers, including three sportswomen, participated in 18 disciplines at the Games, which were held from September 23 to October 8, 2023.
“You are not just representing a medal, but are also representing a narrative of excellence of Indian society. You are a great medium to provide inspiration to the youth,” Mr. Singh said, addressing the players. He appreciated the efforts of the players, including those who gave their best, but could not win the medals and reminded them of ‘Flying Sikh’ Milkha Singh, who missed a medal in the 400-metre race in the 1960 Olympics in Rome by a whisker, but became a guiding star of Indian athletics. Milkha Singh is an inspiration for all even today, he stated.
Commending armed forces personnel for always being among the medal winners at different Games, Mr. Singh added, “Be it a battlefield or a playground, a soldier always performs because of dedication, discipline, hard work and the desire to do something for the nation. These virtues help in bringing medals for us in sports. Within a soldier, there is a player; within a player, there is a soldier.”
