Olympic winners get rewards, cars

Gohana (Haryana), Aug 26  - The London Olympics medal winners from Haryana were Sunday given cash rewards and luxury Audi cars here.

The ceremony took place here in Sonepat district, around 200 km from Chandigarh.

Wrestler Sushil Kumar received a cash reward of Rs.1.5 crore for winning a silver medal while wrester Yogeshwar Dutt, badminton player Saina Nehwal and shooter Gagan Narang got Rs.one crore each for their bronze medals.

All four were also given away luxury Audi cars, LED TV sets and other electrical gadgets.

Although Sushil belongs to Delhi and Saina and Gagan are from Hyderabad, they were included among Haryana’s medal winners for having family roots in the state.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who honoured the medallists and participants at the London Olympics, said all four medallists would also be given land in the state to set up training academies.

The coaches of these players were given cash rewards of Rs.1 lakh each.

Fifteen other Olympic participants from Haryana including Vijender Singh, Krishna Punia and others were also honoured on the occasion with cash rewards and Maruti SX-4 cars.

Olympic finalist Krishna Punia was given a cash prize of Rs.31 lakh; quarter finalist Vijender Singh and Amit Kumar and woman wrestler Geeta Phogat were given cash rewards of Rs.21 lakh each.

The other 11 participants from the state who got Rs.11 lakh each were Annuraj Singh, Garima Chaudhary, Jai Bhagwan, Manoj Kumar, Om Prakash Singh, Sandeep Singh, Sanjeev Rajput, Sardara Singh, Seema Antil, Sumit Sangwan and Vikas Krishan.

Wrestler Amit Kumar will be inducted into Haryana Police as an inspector, Hooda said.

The chief minister also announced that villages of the medal winners would be given Rs.one crore each.

Gagan Narang’s ancestral village is Simla Gujran in Panipat district, while the village of Sushil Kumar’s mother is Nilothi in Jhajjar district.

Wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt’s village Bhainswal Kalan in Sonipat district will be given Rs.two crore (as it is a bigger village) for developmental works.