With the implementation of the exclusive and comprehensive sports policy framed by the state government led by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to provide a conducive environment for sports and sportspersons to provide impetus to games, asserted Sports Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, here, today.
He was here to while kickstart the finals of the Punjab State Badminton Ranking Tournament organized by AM Academy for senior and junior categories. Meet Hayer thrown open the match formally by shaking hands with the senior men's finalists Chirag Sharma and Abhinav Thakur. Besides, he personally participated in the game .
The sports minister further said that as per the instructions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, many important features have been incorporated in the new sports policy designed to make Punjab number one state in the field of sports and to create a sports culture among the budding players.
Referring to the sport of badminton, Meet Hayer said that for the first time the medal winners of Thomas Cup, Ober Cup and World Badminton Federation World Tour Finals have been brought under the ambit of cash prize money.
The gold, silver and bronze medal winners of these games will be awarded with cash prizes of Rs 75 lakh, Rs 40 lakh and Rs 30 lakh respectively, he added. The Sports Minister further said that besides setting up sports centers equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, sports nurseries would also come up in every village.
He said that a special cadre of 500 posts has been created to give jobs to medal-winning sportspersons, so that the distinguished players could get direct jobs.Further, it is for the first time that cash prize has been earmarked for the preparation of international level sports events such as Rs 15 lakh for Olympic Games and Paralympics, while Rs 8 Lakh each for World Championship and World Cup (four years), Asian Games, Para Asian and Deaf Asian Games, Commonwealth, Para and Deaf Commonwealth Games.
Apart from these, funds have also been kept for the preparation of all other international games. Similarly, under the Balbir Singh Senior Scholarship Scheme, a scholarship of Rs 16,000 will be given to the National medalist at the senior level and a scholarship of Rs 12,000 to the National medalist at the junior level, he added
Prominent among others present there included, Vice President of Punjab Badminton Association, Mahinder Chopra, Supervisor Chitranjan Bansal, President of Mohali District Badminton Association Ashok Kaushal and Jatinder Mahajan, Manoj Kumar and Sandeep Mahajan on behalf of AM Academy.