Tamil Nadu govt hikes prize money for sportspersons

Sportspersons in Tamil Nadu have reason to rejoice as the state government today announced a hike in prize money awarded to medal winners in Olympics, Asian, Commonwealth, South Asian and National Games.

The prize money for gold, silver and bronze medal winners in Olympics has been doubled and they will get Rs two crore, Rs one crore and Rs 50 lakh respectively, an official release said.

As for Asian and Commonwealth Games, gold, silver and bronze medallists will get Rs 50 lakh (earlier Rs 20 lakh), Rs 30 (from Rs 15 lakh) and Rs 20 lakh (Rs 10 lakh) respectively, it said.

The biggest hike is for winners in South Asian and National Games as gold medalists will now get Rs five lakh from the earlier Rs one lakh. Silver-medallists will get Rs three lakh (earlier Rs 50,000) and bronze winners will be awarded Rs two lakh (Rs 25,000).

Winners in team games of South Asian and National Games will get Rs five lakh (from Rs 20,000), Rs three lakh (from Rs 15,000) and Rs two lakh (from Rs 10,000) for clinching gold, silver and bronze medals respectively, it said.

The government will also increase the capacity in three sports hostels from 860 to 1,100 for school children, while in sports hostels for college students, it will be from 50 to 80, costing Rs one crore and a recurring expenditure of Rs 83.07 lakh to the exchequer.

In another pilot project, the state government today announced 'Daily Training Scheme' to train 70 trainers in five districts.

These trainers in Kanyakumari, Virudhunagar, Kancheepuram, Coimbatore and Perambalur districts will be trained for 25 days in a month so as to train boys and girls in 10-14 age groups in sports.

The training will include food, uniform and travel expenses and sports equipment and will cost a recurring expenditure of Rs 18 lakh, it added.