Jharkhand government felicitates CWG archers, ignores hockey player

The Jharkhand government Wednesday felicitated archers Deepika Kumari, Rahul Banerji, Jhanu Hansda, Jayant Talukdar and Bheigyabati Chanu.  Deepika won two gold medals while Rahul won a gold and a bronze -- they were rewarded with Rs 10 lakh each for their gold-winning performances.

Jhanu, Jayant and Bheigyabati won a bronze medal each in archery and were given Rs 3 lakh each.  But hockey player and a resident of Jharkhand's Simdega district, Prabodh Tirkey was was not felicitated along with the archers.

India won a silver in men's hockey for the first time since the sport was introduced in the Commonwealth Games in 1998.   Jharkhand government said they had no information on the hockey team wining a silver medal in the Oct 3-14 Games.

"We have felicitated those players who were in our knowledge to win medals in the Games. We felicitated players on verifying two facts whether they belong to state and they play from the state. If there are some deserving players who have not been felicitated now, they will be felicitated later" Anurag Gupta, Jharkhand sports director told IANS.

The felicitation ceremony took place at Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda's  residence where both deputy chief ministers -- Sudesh Mahto and Hemant Soren -- were also present.