Gill doubles cash awards for CWG and Asian Games

[Sir john]

The Sports Ministry today doubled the cash awards for gold medal winners to Rs 20 lakhs for the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games to encourage sportspersons to come up with an improved performance in the upcoming mega-events. The announcement to increase the cash incentives was made by the Sports Minister M S Gill, who also expressed confidence that the Commonwealth Games will be held successfully in October. He said the main outcome of the Games would be the performance of our sportspersons and the sporting legacy left behind by the event. "With a view to encouraging the sportspersons, the Minister announced doubling of cash awards for the coming Commonwealth Games and Asian Games to Rs 20 lakhs (from Rs 10 lakhs) for gold medalist, Rs 10 lakhs (from Rs 5 lakhs) for silver medalist, and Rs 6 lakhs (from Rs 3 lakhs) for bronze medalist," the Ministry said in a release. Meanwhile, the State Sports Ministers stressed on the need to enact a National Sports Act to bring more accountability in the functioning of the federations and promoting better governance.