Chandigarh, May 30- Haryana Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal today felicitated the state's Deaflympics athletes with around Rs. 6 crore of cash awards. Cheques were distributed to a total of 15 players including four gold medal winners, two bronze medal winners and nine participants who took part in the Deaflympics in Brazil during a state-level felicitation ceremony organized at Tau Devi Lal Stadium, Panchkula today.
“Clinching as many as four gold medals in the recently held Deaflympics-2021 at Brazil, Haryana players have once again proved as why the state is known as Sports Hub. Also, by winning 6 medals, including 4 gold, out of the total medal tally of 16 the country they have once again proved why Haryana is known as India’s medal factory. We are proud that out of 65 athletes from India who have participated in this international competition, 15 are from the State,” said Sh. Manohar Lal.
Vidhan Sabha Speaker, Sh. Gian Chand Gupta, Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs, S. Sandeep Singh, MP, Sh. Rattan Lal Kataria also remained present during this felicitation ceremony.
Congratulating the athletes, their families, teachers and trainers, for making the country and the state proud, the Chief Minister said that participating in world-class competitions is a great achievement in itself and every athlete who has participated in this Deaflympics have certainly shown their skill, physical ability and mental toughness.
“By giving you these cash rewards on behalf of the state, I really feel proud. Your achievements are a perfect example, if a person has strong willpower, then no physical disability or weakness can stop them from realizing their dreams,” said Sh. Manohar Lal.
The Chief Minister said that after witnessing the excellent performance of the State players' Olympics, Paralympics, Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, the entire country had high hopes from these 15 players in the Deaflympics.
“I can proudly say that by winning four gold and two bronze medals, they have not only made the country proud but have also again brought laurels for the state, said Sh. Manohar Lal.
Four gold winners receive cash rewards worth Rs. 4.80 crore
Cheques of Rs. 1.20 crore each were given to Sh. Rohit Bhaker, Sh. Mahesh, Ms. Diksha Dagar and Sh. Sumit Dahiya for winning gold in Badminton, Golf and Wrestling respectively.
“It is only because of players like you, that today Haryana’s name has once again shined bright on the world map. Haryana is of course a small state in terms of population and area, but our achievements in the field of sports are unmatched. The players of Haryana have time and again proved their mettle in various National and International competitions,” said Sh. Manohar Lal.
Two bronze medalists warded with Rs.80 lakh
The Chief Minister also gave away cheques worth Rs. 40 lakh each to Sh. Virender Singh and Sh. Amit, for winning bronze medals in Wrestling. Besides this, Sh. Manohar Lal also gave cheques of Rs. 2.5 lakh each to Ms . Priyanka, Sh. Balram, Sh. Yogesh Dagar, Ms. Nirchira, Sh. Ajay Kumar, Sh. Kuldeep Sharma, Sh. Asif Khan, Sh. Aman and Sh. Shubham Vashisht for participating in this international event.
Inaugurates 4 state-of-the-art sports facilities built at a cost of Rs.116 core
The Chief Minister also inaugurated four state-of-the-art sports facilities built at a cost of Rs.116 crore. These include the Scientific Sports Training and Rehabilitation Center built at a cost of around Rs. 50 crore, Multipurpose Hall No. 2 and 3 built at a cost of around Rs. 50 crore, Hockey Astro-Turf built at a cost of around Rs. 10 Crore and Renovation of Athletics Track at a cost of around Rs.6 crore. Providing such state-of-the-art sports facilities also plays a pivotal role in the achievements of the players, said Sh. Manohar Lal.
Realizing the sport's potential of Haryana, State geared up to host the historic Khelo India Youth Games-2021
The Chief Minister said that while realizing the sport's potential of Haryana, State is geared up to host the spectacular Khelo India Youth Games-2021.
“Around 677 players from Haryana had participated in Khelo India-2020 competitions and got the second position in the country by winning 200 medals. This time since we are the host so I hope that the state players would bag the first position by winning the maximum number of medals in this historic event,” said Sh. Manohar Lal.
The Chief Minister said that acknowledging the achievements of the State players on the National and International Stage and the state of the art sports infrastructure of the state, the Central Government has entrusted Haryana to host 'Khelo India-2021'.
“After 4 days from today, on June 4, we will launch 'Khelo India Youth Games-2021' from this stadium only. As many as 25 sports events will be organized in this grand event, including five traditional games like Gatka, Kalaripayattu, Thang-Ta, Malkhamb and Yogasana. These sports events will be organized at five venues namely Panchkula, Ambala, Shahabad, Chandigarh and Delhi. Over 8,500 athletes will participate in these games. Besides this, lakhs of spectators will witness this gala sports festival,” said Sh. Manohar Lal.
Haryana gives the highest cash prize money to medal-winning players
The Chief Minister said that Haryana is the first state in the country, which gives maximum cash prize money to medal-winning sportspersons. He said that the ‘Haryana State Development Fund’ has been created to provide cash prizes and other facilities to the medal-winning players. We have given cash prizes of more than Rs 335 crore to the players, said Sh. Manohar Lal.
“We have made a provision of giving cash reward of Rs 6 crore to the gold medalist, Rs 4 crore to the silver medalist, and Rs 2.5 crore to the bronze medalist in Olympic Games. Not only this, we are ahead of many countries of the world in terms of giving the highest reward money to the medal winners,” shared Sh. Manohar Lal.
The Chief Minister said that provision has also been made to give cash prizes at par with Olympic sportspersons to Paralympics medal winners and Para sportspersons participating in Olympic, Asian, Commonwealth and other National sports events.
Players getting government jobs under Sports Quota
Sh. Manohar Lal informed that Haryana is the first state in the country, which has made a provision to give an advance amount of Rs. 5 lakh for game preparations to the players so that they do not face any difficulty in their preparations. With this, a new policy for the mountaineers who climb the world's 10 highest mountain peaks has also been implemented under which Rs. 5 lakh and a Grade-C certificate in the sports category are given to help them in getting government jobs in Sports Quota.
The Chief Minister said that the government has implemented Haryana Outstanding Sportspersons (Recruitment and Conditions of Service Rules 2018) to ensure employment for outstanding sportspersons. Besides this, 550 new posts have been created in the sports department and 156 players have been given government jobs.