New Delhi: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday felicitated Indian team hockey players from the state after their bronze medal in the recently concluded Paris Olympics. The Indian men’s hockey team clinched back-to-back bronze medal at the Summer Games after edging past Spain 2-1 in the bronze medal playoff.
This was the first time in 52 years that Indian hockey witnessed successive podium finishes at the quadrennial showpiece event. Eight of the 16 members of Indian men’s hockey squad at the Paris Olympics were from Punjab.
Captain Harmanpreet Singh, Manpreet Singh, Mandeep Singh, Gurjant Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, and Sukhjeet Singh are either based in Amritsar or Jalandhar. Apart from the hockey team members, Indian shooters Anjum Moudgil, Arjun Babuta, Vijayveer Singh Sindhu, Sift Kaur Samra, Arjun Singh Cheema, and Rajeshwari Kumari were among the other 11 Olympians present at the felicitation eveent.
CM Mann awarded a cash prize of Rs 1 crore to each of the eight Olympic medallists from the hockey team and Rs 15 lakh to all the Olympians from the state.
India returned with a total of six medals from the 33rd edition of the Summer Games. There were six events where India finished at the fourth place. Punjab’s Arjun Babuta was one of those to miss at the podium by the closest margins. Babuta was in the race to bag a medal in the men’s 10m air rifle before he squandered the position in the 18th shot of the final with a mediocre 10.1 shot.
Punjab CM to focus on development of sports
According to a report by news agency PTI, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann mooted an idea to hold a four-nation hockey tournament in Mohali in November and will consider with the hockey authorities for the idea. He also promised that his government will work to promote sports in the state.
The Punjab government will start with the third edition of ‘Kheda Watan Punjab Dian’ from August 28 onwards. Mann further said the state government will develop sports clusters like football in Mahilpur area, boxing in Sangrur, hockey in Jalandhar, athletics in Ludhiana and others to promote sports in the state.
The CM also mulled the options of promoting sportspersons in their jobs apart from providing cash prizes and new jobs.
This was the first time in 52 years that Indian hockey witnessed successive podium finishes at the quadrennial showpiece event after 1972 Munich Olympics. Eight of the 16 members of Indian men’s hockey squad at the Paris Olympics were from Punjab. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
