UP athletes to reap rich cash harvest if they win medals
LUCKNOW: Players from Uttar Pradesh have a rich history of golden success at the Olympics where greats like Major Dhyanchand (thrice) and Kunwar Digvijay Singh ‘Babu’ have excelled in men’s hockey.
Years later, the UP trio of Ravinderpal Singh, Zafar Iqbal and Mohd Shahid featured in India’s eighth and last gold medal win in men’s hockey at the Moscow Games in 1980.
Since then, no one from the country’s most populous state could win an Olympic medal, either in individual or team events, despite drastic changes in the sports infrastructure as well as planning at the government level. There is hardly anyone from the private sector to support the cause of sports and the sportspersons.
In less than 50 days from now, the Summer Olympics will begin at Tokyo, Japan, in July. Over 20 crore people of the state would be hoping for someone from UP to finish on the podium after 41 years. Big prize money is waiting for anyone who manages to do so.
A gold medal winner (individual event) will get Rs 6 crore, followed by Rs 4 crore on winning a silver medal and Rs 2 crore for a bronze medal. Gold medal winners in team events would be getting Rs 3 crore. The silver and bronze medallists in the team category would be
richer by Rs 2 crore and Rs 1 crore, respectively.
“Apart from this, Rs 10 lakh would be given to each athlete for participation at the Tokyo Olympics,” said UP’s director sports RP Singh on Sunday. “The state government is committed to the welfare of sports and sportspersons and it would be great if someone wins a medal at the Tokyo Games,” said Singh, who is also the High Performance Committee chairman of Hockey India.
“The UP government has already made provisions for big prize money to the athletes winning medals at the international levels, including Asian Games, World Championships, Commonwealth Games, Afro Asian Games and SAF Games,” he added.
He said cash awards always encouraged an athlete to excel. “It also motivates others to take up sport as a career as winning medals for the country as well as for the state has always been a great inspiration.”
All nine athletes from the state — Vandana Kataria, Preeti Dubey, Danish Mujtaba (all in hockey), Manu Attri (badminton), Sudha Singh, Seema Punia (both in athletics), Narsingh Yadav (wrestling), Jeetu Rai and Meraj Ahmed Khan (both in shooting) — were given Rs 10 lakh each for their participation at the 2016 Olympics at Rio in Brazil.
The number of athletes from Uttar Pradesh for the Tokyo Games seems less this time. So far, four — Priyanka Goswami (women’s 20 km race walk), Shivpal Singh (men’s javelin throw), Saurabh Chaudhary (10m men’s air pistol, individual and mixed team) and Mairaj Ahmad Khan (men’s skeet individual) — have qualified.
Asian Games silver medallist and two-time Olympian Sudha Singh has been training hard for her qualification in the marathon event later this month.
Two hopefuls in men’s hockey and one in women’s hockey are awaiting the official announcement of the teams for the mega event.
“Cash awards on winning medals and even money for participation at Olympics or any other big international event have always been welcome,” UP Olympic Association secretary Anandeshwar Pandey said.
“For the last few years, the athletes are getting good money for their success at the national and international levels. In the past, there was no such thing for them,” he added.