CM Adityanath felicitates India's Olympic medallists, gives additional 25 lakhs to athletes from state

The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday felicitated India's medal winners from Tokyo Olympics 2020. The government spent around 42 crores to not only felicitate the medal winners but also those who finished fourth. UP CM Yogi Adityanath also handed an additional cash reward of Rs 25 lakh each to 10 athletes from the state who participated in Tokyo Olympics 2020.

CM Adityanath felicitates India's Olympic medallists

During the mega event held at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium, star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra received Rs 2 crore, silver medallists Ravi Dahiya and Mirabai Chanu received Rs 1.5 crore each while three individual bronze medallists - P.V. Sindhu, Lovlina Borgohain and Bajrang Punia - were given Rs 1 crore each. All 19 members of the Indian men's hockey team were given Rs 1 crore each.

Members of the women's hockey team, who performed exceptionally well but finished fourth after reaching their maiden semi-final at the Olympics, were given Rs 50 lakh each and so was golfer, Aditi Ashok, who narrowly missed out on a bronze medal.

All 10 players from UP who participated in the Olympics were given an additional Rs 25 lakh. CM Adityanath lauded India's best-ever show at an Olympic event and praised the athletes for delivering their best for the country despite the pandemic.

"On behalf of all of you, I would congratulate all the athletes who represented the nation at Tokyo 2020. All these athletes gave their best performance for the country despite the covid pandemic. It shows that every athlete plays for the entire and they do not see anything else apart from country," Adityanath said during the event.

Tokyo 2020 was India's best-ever show at the quadrennial event as India returned with seven medals. Lauding India's historic show, Adityanath added, "We are glad that our team produced their best-ever show at 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In 18 disciplines, India won 7 medals and 10 athletes from UP also participated at Tokyo Olympics 2020."

The UP government had earlier announced that athletes from the state who win a gold medal at the Olympics in individual events would be given Rs 6 crore, silver medalists will get 4 crore while bronze medalist from the state will be given 2 crore. In team events, the UP government would give 3 crore for gold medals, 2 crore for silver medals and 1 crore for bronze medals.

Adityanath stressed that the UP government was determined to promote sports in the state as a result of which 31 stadiums have already been built in the state. He also announced that a Sports University will be built in Meerut which will be named after legendary hockey player Major Dhyan Chand.

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