Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao announced cash awards to sportspersons from the State who won medals at the Commonwealth Games last month.
Badminton player Saina Nehwal, who won the singles as well as team gold, was to be given Rs 50 lakh, shuttler N. Sikki Reddy would get Rs 30 lakh for winning the team gold and a bronze in women’s doubles (with Ashwini Ponnappa), Ruthvika Shivani will receive Rs 20 lakh for the team event gold while boxer Mohammed Hussamuddin would be given Rs 25 lakh for his bronze in the 56kg category, the Sports Authority of Telangana State (SATS) said in a statement.
The prize money is in addition to the cash incentives which players get from SATS, the release read.
However, a notable exclusion from the list is team event gold and women’s singles silver winning shuttler P. V. Sindhu, who was born, brought-up and lives in Hyderabad but took up a Deputy Collector’s post (Group-I officer rank) offered by the Andhra Pradesh government last year after winning a silver medal at the 2016 Olympic Games.
The Telangana government too had presented a cash reward of Rs 5 crore and a residential plot to Sindhu then.
On Thursday, SATS chairman Allipuram Venkateshwar Reddy thanked the Telangana CM for announcing the prize money. “The Chief Minister has once again shown his love and affection for sports,” he said, adding, “earlier he had announced two per cent job reservation for sportspersons in all the state government departments which will go a long way in encouraging youngsters.”
“Now, we want the CM to clear the long-pending Excise Cess file which will enable substantial fund flow into the sports department and help Telangana develop into a top sporting state,” Mr Reddy said.
