Rio heroes to receive cash prize from CM Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Two Rio Olympics medallists and their coaches are arriving in the capital city on Friday. P. V. Sindhu who won the silver in badminton women singles and Sakshi Malik who won the bronze medal in freestyle women wrestling will receive Rs 50 lakh and Rs 25 lakh respectively as cash prize announced by the Dubai-based business person, Mukkattu Sebastian. Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan will hand over the cash bonanza at a function at Cotton Hill Higher Secondary School at 11 am. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala is also expected to attend the programme. Ms Sindhu’s coach Gopichand and Ms Sakshi’s coach Mandeep Singh will also be gifted with Rs 10 lakh and Rs 5 lakh respectively.

The 61-year-old entrepreneur is known for his philanthropic activities as he had previously donated 5.7 acres of land to 123 homeless people at Vazhappilly in Changanassery, chosen from a list of 3,000 homeless given by the state government’s Zero-Landless project. But he is a tad bit disappointed at the absence of gymnast Dipa Karmakar and her coach Bishweshwar Nandi. “I am not a very wealthy man. Still, I want to felicitate the two Olympians who made our country proud at Rio,” he told DC.

Mukkattu Sebastian“Initially, the event was scheduled to take place in Kochi. But owing to the participants’ and officials’ convenience, I am holding it here.” He has been doing business in Dubai for more than five decades. He originally belongs to Changanassery in Kottayam district and owns Mukkadan Plantations as well as Autobahn car rentals in UAE and Bengaluru. He had announced '1 crore for Ms Sindhu if she could win gold.