“The new sports policy approved by the Punjab cabinet emphasizes not only enhancing the prize money of various National and International tournaments but also ensuring a robust and top notch sports infrastructure in Punjab aiming at producing champions keeping in mind future sporting extravaganzas such as Tokyo Olympics due to be held in 2020. It is in keeping with the parameters of this policy that the medal winners of the Asian Games-2018 (Jakarta, Indonesia) and the Commonwealth Games-2018 along with their coaches would be felicitated with enhanced prize money in a grand way on 11th October at Hotel Hyatt.”This was disclosed here today at Punjab Bhawan by the Sports Minister, Punjab, Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi while interacting with the mediapersons on the occasion of outlining in detail the finer points of the new sports policy. Divulging more, the minister said that the prize money of the Gold medal winners in Olympic/Paralympic Games has been enhanced to Rs. 2.25 crore while the Silver and Bronze medal winners would get Rs. 1.5 crore and Rs. 1 crore respectively. The Gold, Silver and Bronze medalists of the Asian Games/Para Asian Games would get Rs. 1 crore, Rs. 75 lakh and Rs. 50 lakh respectively. As regarding the Commonwealth Games/Para Commonwealth Games, the Gold, Silver and Bronze medal winners would get Rs. 75 lakh, Rs. 50 lakh and Rs. 40 lakh respectively while those winning Gold, Silver and Bronze medals at the World Cup championships would be richer by Rs. 80 lakh, Rs. 55 lakh and Rs. 45 lakh respectively. The Gold, Silver and Bronze medal winners of the World University Games/Championships would get Rs. 7 lakh, Rs. 5 lakh and Rs. 3 lakh. For the Gold, Silver and Bronze medal winners of the SAF Games/Afro Asian Games the prize money has been increased to Rs. 5 lakh, Rs. 3 lakh and Rs. 2 lakh respectively. Similarly, the National/Para National Games Gold, Silver and Bronze winners would get Rs. 5 lakh, Rs. 3 lakh and Rs. 2 lakh. Those bagging the Gold, Silver and Bronze medals at the All India Inter University level, National School Games/Khelo India School Games, National Women Sports Festival/National level Khelo India tournaments would get Rs. 50,000, Rs. 30,000 and Rs. 20,000 and winners of Gold, Silver & Bronze at the Senior National Championships organized by National Sports Bodies (Once in a year) would get Rs. 40,000, Rs.20,000 and Rs. 15,000 respectively.Outlining other key aspects of the policy, Rana Sodhi said that sporting disciplines have been categorized into High Potential Games (in which Punjab players have huge potential to bag medals) and the Potential Games (Improving specific skills of the players). The games identified under the High Potential Games include Basketball, Volleyball, Boxing, Shooting, Judo, Weightlifting, Chess, Table Tennis, Athletics, Swimming, Badminton, Cycling, Rowing, Hockey, Gymnastics, Football & Kabaddi. The Potential Games category would include Lawn Tennis, Archery, Handball, Softball, Fencing, Skating, Waterpolo, Wushu, Gatka and Kho-Kho.Listing more finer characteristics of the policy, the minister said that the backlog of the previous years pertaining to the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Awards would be cleared. He also said that 814 players would be honoured in November this year. He further added that the players based on their achievements would be appointed to the posts in police department, Tehsildar in Revenue Department, ETOs, PCS. The minister also said that every year in the month of January, he would seek the status of vacancies in various departments where the sports quota is 3 percent. He also disclosed that if a player is not able to get job in any other department then he/she would get the job in Sports Department at a salary of Rs. 25000 per month with 10 percent annual increase.Among other significant features of the sports policy spelt out by the minister included automatic selection of the Arjuna Awardee and Padma Awardee players for the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Awards, Creation of greenfields in the rural belts with the assistance of the Rural Development Department, Collaboration with the Education Department for a games period of 1 hour, A Sports Science University at Patiala, Strengthening of the stadiums and other infrastructure besides insurance for the players.Among others present on the occasion included MLA (Qadian) Mr. Fatehjang Singh Bajwa, Principal Secretary Sports, Punjab, Mr. Sanjay Kumar, Director Sports Mrs. Amrit Kaur Gill, and Assistant Director Sports Mr. Kartar Singh.