Uttarakhand announces ₹25 lakh cash reward for hockey star Vandana Katariya

Vandana Katariya made a stunning contribution to India's performance in women's hockey at the Tokyo Olympics

Published on: Aug 7, 2021, 08:31:46 IST

Written by Joydeep Bose | Edited by Amit Chaturvedi, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

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Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has announced a cash reward of ₹25 lakh to Vandana Katariya, a member of the India women's hockey team that participated in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics this year.

India's Vandana Katariya watches the replay board during a women's field hockey match against Germany at the 2020 Summer Olympics. (AP PHOTO)

Vandana became the first Indian woman hockey player to score an Olympic hat-trick, at the July 31 match where India beat South Africa 4-3 to keep quarterfinal hopes alive.

Vandana scored in the first, second, and fourth quarters of India's last match in Pool A of the Tokyo Olympics to etch her names in the history books.

Also Read | Tokyo Olympics: Indian women's hockey team shows they belong to the grand stage

"We are proud that Uttarakhand's daughter Vandana Katariya made an unforgettable contribution to India's great performance in women's hockey at the Tokyo Olympics," the chief minister said. "In recognition of this, she would be given a cash reward of ₹25 lakh."

An attractive new sports policy will soon be introduced in the state that will help nourish budding talent in different games, he added.

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Vandana has played for the women's hockey senior national team in more than 200 international matches and was also part of the team that won a bronze medal at the 2014 Asian Games.

Although the Indian women's hockey team lost the bronze medal match against Great Britain after putting up a valiant fight at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, this was, overall, Team India's best-ever showing at the Olympics yet. Before this, India featured only twice in the women's hockey event at the multi-sports programme. While they had finished in the fourth position in 1980 as well, they had not qualified for the tournament and competed in a six-team round-robin format.

The India women's hockey team qualified for the Olympics for the first time in 2016 when they finished 12th out of 20 teams. However, they managed to finish fourth this time, shattering all earlier records and showcasing their rise over the years.

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