The Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur presented cash awards to the medal winning athletes from the Asian Games women’s cricket, shooting and rowing teams at a felicitation function here on Thursday.
The gold winning women’s cricket team, led by Harmanpreet Kaur was the cynosure of all eyes, even though only four members could attend the function. Harmanpreet along with Shafali Verma, Amanjot Kaur and Kanika Ahuja collected Rs. 2.25 crore on behalf of the whole team.
The gold fetches Rs. 30 lakh in Asian Games. And a team of more than 10 players gets five times the amount to be distributed among the players. As a special case, the 15-member team was given Rs. 15 lakh each.
“We were so happy to join the rest of Indian sports in the Asian Games. It was a totally different experience, and we are so thankful for it. It was great to win the first gold medal in our first entry in the Asian Games. Thank you all for the support. It feels good to receive the prize money,” said Harmanpreet.
Shooters Rudrankksh Patil, Ramita Jindal, Mehuli Ghosh, Adarsh Singh, Vijayveer Sidhu and Anish Bhanwala along with coach Suma Shirur were present.
“We are really grateful for the support from NRAI, SAI, TOPS. With continued support we can achieve much more,” said World champion Rudrankksh.
The Sports Minister was pleased that the Indian rowers accounted for five medals this time, as compared to three in 2018.
The rowing team was present in strength along with the coaches and collected awards ranging from Rs. 6,67,000, to Rs. 15,00,000.
Hangzhou Asian Games | With five medals, the Indian rowers make a splash
“Rowing is not that popular. Thanks to all the support, we could give a good performance,” said Arjun Lal Jat, who won the double sculls silver along with Arvind Singh.
The silver cash award of Rs. 20 lakh was converted to Rs. 30 lakh as per the formula for the two member team.
“We congratulate and thank all the medallists. In cricket, I was only concerned about rain taking away the medal,” said Thakur, as he expressed faith in the ability of the Indian team.
He was also appreciative of all the athletes present and who were still competing in Hangzhou.
Revealing ambitious plans, the Minister stated that the government would open 1000 Khelo India centres across the country, and have 1000 sports persons managing them and imparting training.
“This will be done this year. Five lakh rupees would be given to each centre to run it,” he said.
He also sought suggestions from the athletes and coaches, saying “right feed back at the right time is important”.
The Minister was happy that the Indian contingent had secured 25 medals so far, and extended his congratulations to all of them.
