Haryana to give cash awards to its Asian Games medallists

CHANDIGARH - The Haryana government is preparing itself to dole out a large sum of money for athletes and coaches from the state who participated in the recently concluded Asian Games at Guangzhou, China.

Moreover, development funds would also be spent on the villages from where the winning athletes hail, a state government spokesman said.

Athletes winning gold, silver and bronze medals would be awarded Rs.25 lakh, Rs.15 lakh and Rs.10 lakh respectively.

Their coaches would be awarded Rs.3 lakh, Rs.2 lakh and Rs.1 lakh respectively.

Besides, all the participants inthe Asian Games would be awarded a cash prize of Rs.2 lakh each.

The state government will also give funds of Rs.51 lakh, Rs.31 lakh and Rs.21 lakh for development of the villages from where these winning athletes hail.

Cash prizes and other freebies like cars, mobile phones and several kilograms of ghee (purified butter) were given to players from Haryana last month for winning 37 medals out of Indias tally of 101 medals during the October 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games.

The spokesman added that Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda would felicitate the players of the state for bringing glory to Haryana in the Asian Games at a function Dec 22 at Indradhanush Auditorium in Panchkula, 10 km from here.

Players from Haryana brought laurels to the country in the Asian and Commonwealth Games as more than one-third of medals won by the country were contributed by them, he added.