Punjab Sports Minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi on Tuesday said the state government will honour Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra and Tokyo Games medal winners and participants from Punjab with cash awards worth Rs 32.67 crore at a felicitation function on August 12. Sodhi said Chief Minister Amarinder Singh will honour the Olympians while Punjab Governor V P Singh Badnore would be the special guest on the occasion. He said as per the special announcement of the chief minister, Chopra, who has deep roots in Punjab, would be honoured with a cash reward of Rs 2.51 crore.
Earlier, the Punjab government had announced Rs 2 crore cash reward for Chopra. Sodhi said that the cash reward for 11 players from the state, who were part of the Indian hockey team which won a medal (bronze) after 41 years, has also been increased from earlier announcement of Rs 1 crore to Rs 2.51 crore each.
The Indian hockey team is led by Manpreet Singh. Vice-captain Harmanpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Simranjit Singh, Mandeep Singh, Gurjant Singh, Shamsher Singh, Varun Kumar, Dilpreet Singh, Hardik Singh and Krishan Pathak were also from Punjab, Sodhi said, as per an official statement.
He said the members of the Indian women's hockey team, which finished fourth, from the state -- Reena Khokhar and Gurjit Kaur -- and discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur, who took sixth position, will be given Rs 50 lakh each.
Boxer Simranjit Kaur, shooters Anjum Moudgill and Angadveer Singh, athletes Tejinder Pal Singh Toor and Gurpreet Singh and paralympic badminton player Palak Kohli will also be given Rs 21 lakh each, he said.
Sodhi said that the chief minister has increased the cash award amount for the Olympic medalists with a view to further promote sports in the state.