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New sports policy: Punjab govt hikes prize money for medal winners
Punjab sports minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer said on Monday that under the ‘New Sports Policy 2023’, winners of gold, silver and bronze medals in the Olympic games will be given a cash reward of ₹3 crore, ₹2 crore and ₹1 crore, respectively
Chandigarh : Punjab sports minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer said on Monday that under the ‘New Sports Policy 2023’, winners of gold, silver and bronze medals in the Olympic games will be given a cash reward of ₹3 crore, ₹2 crore and ₹1 crore, respectively.
Earlier, the prize money for gold medal winners was ₹2.25 crore and ₹1.5 for silver. The prize money for Olympic bronze winners has not been hiked.
Unveiling the new policy here, Hayer said the number of such cash prize winners has been increased from 25 to 80.
The Punjab cabinet had on Saturday approved the ‘New Sports Policy 2023’, aimed to focus on training, incentives, robust infrastructure, and jobs for athletes.
Addressing media, Hayer said under the new policy, cash rewards will be given to medal winners of other games as well, including Special Olympics, deaf Olympics, para world games ( ₹75, 50 and 30 lakh), badminton’s Thomas Cup, Uber Cup, BWF World Tour Finals ( ₹75, 50 and 40 lakh), tennis Grand Slams ( ₹75, 50 and 40 lakh), Azlan Shah Hockey Cup ( ₹75, 50 and 40 lakh), Diamond League and recognised tournaments of internationally reputed organisations ( ₹75, 50 and 40 lakh), deaf World Cup, blind World Cup ( ₹60, 40 and 20 lakh), Youth Olympic Games ( ₹50, 30 and 20 lakh).
He also announced the Milkha Singh Award for sports promoters/organisations which will include a cash reward of ₹5 lakh, a memento and certificate.
Similarly, Balbir Singh Senior Scholarship Scheme has been started for the first time to give monthly scholarship to the medal winners at the national level. Under this scheme, a scholarship of ₹16,000 will be given to the national medallist at the senior level and a scholarship of ₹12,000 to the national medallist at the junior level, the minister said.
‘500 sports-cadre posts created’
Hayer said a provision has been made to offer the top 500 medal winners various job positions in the special cadre, including 40 deputy directors, 92 senior coaches, 138 coaches and 230 junior coaches.
He said compared to 2,017 coaches in Haryana, there are only 309 coaches in Punjab and as per the new sports policy, there is a proposal to hire 2,360 more coaches.
‘Financial aid for preparing for competitions’
Announcing monetary aid for the first time for preparation for international sports competitions, Hayer said ₹15 lakh will be given for the Olympics and Paralympics.
Similarly, funds for preparation for other games --- ₹8 lakh each for Deaf Olympics, Special Olympics, World Championship and World Cup (four years), Asian Games, Para Asian Games, ₹7 lakh for Special Olympics, ₹6 lakh for ICC World Cup, World Test Championship, Twenty20 World Cup, Blind World Cup, ₹5 lakh for World Championship and Afro-Asian Games, ₹4 lakh for Youth Olympics, Asian and Commonwealth Championships, ₹3 lakh for SAF Games and SAFF Championship, ₹1 lakh each for World University Games, Youth Commonwealth Games and World Junior Games and Championship, the minister said.
He said 1,000 cluster-level sports nurseries will be set up in the state with better coaching and sports equipment. A budget of ₹250 crore will be allocated with ₹25 lakh given to each sports nursery, said Hayer. A district-level sports structure with 200 sports hostels in each district will be established to prepare sportspersons for the national-level competitions, he added.
