“Punjabis all set to excel in the Tokyo Olympics-2021 and bagging maximum quota forthe State for this mega event is the main and sole aim with Punjab Institute ofSports (P.I.S.) and other allied institutions engaged headlong and burningmidnight oil under the aegis of the Sports Department.” These views wereexpressed here today by the Sports, Youth Services and NRIs Affairs MinisterRana Gurmit Singh Sodhi at the Punjab Municipal Bhawan, while honouring the 90players, who brought laurels for the state and country in the year 2017-18,with prizes worth around Rs.1.66 crore.
Addressingthe special award ceremony, Rana Sodhi said that starting with the first phasetoday of providing monetary assistance to players, we have initiated theprocess to fulfill our promise made to the sports fraternity to honour them fortheir remarkable achievements in sports arena of international and nationalrepute. In coming days, such 1135 sportspersons would be accorded with cashprizes as the COVID pandemic has already much delayed the process of honouringsports persons.
RanaSodhi said that these 90 players, who have outshined at international, nationaland state level during the year 2017-18, are being given Rs.1,65,65,700. Out ofthese, 36 international players have been given around Rs.1.26, while 54national level sportspersons with prize money of around Rs.39.39 lakh. "Ihope, this initiative would be advantageous for the budding players to boosttheir morale for excelling the international sports, especially in Tokyo-2021Olympics", he said, adding that the sports department has decided toprovide cash awards worth Rs.4.85 crores to decorated players, out of which,around Rs.1.66 crores have been disbursed today.
Pointingout further, Rana Sodhi said that maximum podium finishes are expected fromPunjab with Hockey as the leading contender because the half of National hockeysquad is expected to feature players from the State. This is amply borne out bythe fact that out of total 33 players attending the camp at Bengaluru, 17 hailsfrom Punjab. The Women’s team has two players from the state.
Divulgingabout presenting a cheque of Rs.5 lakh on behalf of the Punjab Government tothe pugilist Simranjit Kaur, who is the first boxer from the State to qualifyfor Olympics, Rana Sodhi said that Simranjit is also the first boxer fromPunjab, who bagged Silver in the Asia-Oceania qualifying tournament and secureda place in the Olympics. Announcing that the Punjab Government would bear theexpenses of Simranjit Kaur’s preparation for the Olympics, the Ministerdisclosed that the prodigy from Punjab also had a preparation stint at PunjabInstitute of Sports.
Claimingthe new sports policy as extremely beneficial for preparing budding players forthe international arena, Rana Sodhi said that no stone is left unturned inensuring every facility with the inclusion of providing coaching from abroadand equipment, to ensure that the players come up triumphs at the Olympiclevel.
“TheGold winners at the Olympics would get Rs.2.25 crore prize money, Silverwinners Rs.1.5 crore, while those bagging Bronze would be richer by Rs.1 crorealong with government jobs”, revealed the Minister adding that till now, 74players from the country had qualified for the 35 events with many shooters andboxers also holding the great promise.
PrincipalSecretary Sports Mr. Anurag Verma and Director Mr. D.P.S. Kharbanda also spokeon this occasion and extended wishes for their better sports future. MBSPSUVice Chancellor Lieutenant General (Retd.) Dr. Jagbir Singh Cheema andRegistrar Col. Navjit Singh Sandhu, PIS Director Group Captain (Retd.) AmardeepSingh, Joint Secretary Sports Council Mr. Kartar Singh and Deputy Director(Youth Services) Mrs. Rupinder Kaur were also present.