Millions in cash, government jobs: How Haryana is honouring Paralympics stars
Tokyo 2020 Summer Paralympic Games: India's Manish Narwal and Singhraj Adana bagged gold and silver, respectively, in the men's P4 mixed 50m pistol SHI on Saturday. The two shooters took India's tally to 15 medals at the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics.
The Manohar Lal Khattar-led government in Haryana has announced that it will provide a cash reward of ₹6 crore (60 million) and another one of ₹4 crore (40 million) to India's Paralympics stars Manish Narwal and Singhraj Adana, respectively. Both the para-athletes clinched historic medals for the country in the men's P4 mixed 50m pistol SHI on Saturday, with Manish winning the gold and Singhraj bagging the silver in the Tokyo 2020 Summer Paralympic Games.
The Haryana administration also announced that both these sportsmen would be provided government jobs in the state, according to a report by the ANI news agency.
Earlier, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had also announced that his administration will provide prize money of ₹2.5 crore to para-athlete Harvinder Singh, who won the first bronze and the only medal in archery at the Paralympics Games in Tokyo on Friday. After his loss in the semifinals, Singh had managed to clinch the bronze in the men individual recurve open at the multi-sports event for para-athletes.
Shooter Manish Narwal on Saturday scored a total of 218.2 in the final, creating a Paralympic record in the process of winning the gold medal. His teammate, Singhraj Adana, fell short by just a bit today; however, in no less an achievement, managed to bag the silver medal after scoring 216.7 in the final. The two shooters took India's tally to 15 medals at the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics.
Wishes poured in for the Paralympians on Saturday from different parts of the country, as politicos and dignitaries congratulated the para-athletes for their outstanding achievement. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, spoke with Manish Narwal and Singhraj Adhana, congratulating them for winning the respective gold and silver medals in shooting. The shooters, too, appreciated the Prime Minister's repeated encouragement and thanked him for the support.
Earlier, the two Indian shooters had a good show in the qualification round to reach the final. While Manish amassed 533-7x points, Singhraj scored 536-4x points after the end of six series t the Asaka Shooting Range. Singhraj finished at the fourth position while Manish occupied the seventh spot after the end of the qualification round.
The other Indian in the fray, shooter Akash failed to book the final berth as he ended with 507-3x points, finishing 27th in the qualifying round.
As the pistol is held with one hand only, athletes in the SH1 category have an impairment affecting one arm and/or the legs, for example resulting from amputations or spinal cord injuries. P4 is a classification for the mixed 50m air pistol competition. Some shooters compete in a seated position, while others take aim in a standing position as defined in the rules.
