Punjab Sports Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer today released the New Year calendar on the eve of the New Year, highlighting the sporting achievements of Punjab. This calendar has been prepared by Maharaja Bhupinder Singh Punjab Sports University, Patiala in which all the award winning sportspersons of Punjab have been included. Two calendars have been prepared, one wall calendar and the other table calendar.
These calendars were released in the presence of Special Chief Secretary Saravjit Singh and Punjab Sports University Vice Chancellor Lt General (Retd) J.S. Cheema. Congratulating all the Punjabis and the sportspersons on New Year, the Sports Minister said that Punjab has a rich sports heritage and Punjabi players have made the mark with their sporting prowess all over the World.
The State Government under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann is making continuous efforts to restore the state's lost glory in sports. In the very first year of the new sports policy, the Punjabi players while breaking a 72-year-old record of Asian Games, won a total of 20 medals, including 8 gold medals.
Meet Hayer said that so far the players of Punjab have won 4 Padma Bhushan, 24 Padma Shri, 4 Khel Ratna Puraskar, 129 Arjuna Awards, 15 Dronacharya Awards, 21 Dhyan Chand Awards and 5 Tenzing Norgay Awards. All 202 Awardees have been included in the calendar. Divulging more details Lt. Gen. (retd.) J.S. Cheema said that the unique aspect of the calendar is that the month of March, which is International Women's Day, includes all the award-winning Women players, and the month of May, which is World Athletics Day, includes all the Award winners of Athletics.
There are many award-winning sportsmen in a family like father-son, brothers, husband-wife, uncle-nephew etc. All these have been given a special place in the calendar.