Increase prize money medal winners: V.K. Malhotra

NEW DELHI - Archery Association of India (AAI) president V.K. Malhotra Sunday termed as “misleading” Sports Minister M.S. Gill’s promise of doubling the prize money of medal winners at international events and claimed the amount has not changed since the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Gill had announced last week that medal winners at the forthcoming Commonwealth Games and Asian Games will get Rs 20 lakh for a gold, Rs 10 lakh for a silver and Rs 6 lakh for a bronze.

“In the 2002 Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, the prize money given to gold, silver and bronze medal winners was Rs 20 lakh, Rs 10 lakh and Rs 6 lakh respectively. To maintain the same prize money after eight years is ridiculous,” Malhotra, who is also the President of the General Association of National Sports Federations (GANSF), said in a statement

Malhotra said he has proposed to increase the prize money by at least two-and-a-half times.

“I wrote to the prime minister and the sports minister and made many statements that the prize money to be given to the medal winners of this years’ Commonwealth Games and Asian Games should be at least 2.5 times the amount given in the 2002 games,” he said.

Malhotra said the government is following a “penny wise pound foolish” policy.

“The government has spent Rs.900 crores on the beautification or uglification of Connaught Place, about Rs.1,000 crores for renovation of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and hundreds of crores on improvement of footpaths but to keep prize money for medal winners low to save Rs.5-7 crores is atrocious,” he said.