Bonanza for State medallists

KOA honours achievers past and present at glittering function

“Athletes from the State have done wonderfully well at the Asian Games and CWG,” said IR Perumal, Principal Secretary of the Department of Youth Services and Sports, at the Karnataka Olympic Association 2010 Awards function here at Raj Bhavan.

“Apart from bringing laurels to India they have also made the State proud. In recognition of the achievements, we have decided to honour them with cash awards. A gold medal will carry a purse of Rs 10 lakh, silver Rs 7 lakh and bronze Rs 5 lakh. The total budget has been estimated at Rs 1.83 crore.”

Totally 22 athletes -- 13 from CWG and nine from Asiad -- along with coaches will be honoured in January. “The list of awardees has been finalised. We are waiting for the conclusion of zilla and taluka panchayat elections after which the list and date of awards will be made public,” said Perumal.

The principal secretary also noted that Rs 100 crore that was sanctioned by the Central Government in the 12th Finance Commission (2006-2010) for development of sports had been put to good use. “Over 100 taluk-level stadiums have been constructed across the State. It is very important to develop sports in the mofussil centres.”

Meanwhile, the KOA also honoured Asiad and CWG medallists from the State with cash prizes. While gold medallists received Rs 50,000, silver winners took home Rs 30,000 and bronze Rs 20,000 each.

“The KOA is really proud of the medal winners. Since some of them could not make it here due to other commitments, the association will honour them at a later date. In case we’ve missed out on anybody, they too will be honoured without fail,” said KOA President K Govindraj.

In all 14 athletes who won medals at the CWG and the Asian Games were felicitated.

KOA awardees: Asian Games and CWG: Ashwini AC (athletics), Arjun Halappa (hockey), Bharath Chetri (hockey), Pramila Aiyappa (athletics), Pankaj Advani (cue sports), S Jeeva Kumar (kabaddi). Only CWG: HM Jyothi (athletics), Kashinath Naik (athletics), BG Nagaraj (athletics), Vikas Gowda (athletics), Ashwini Ponappa (badminton), Kavitha Yadav (shooting), Sudhir Kumar (weightlifting), Mahesh Bhupathi (tennis).