Punjab Sports Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer on Wednesday said that in the past few decades, Punjab was lagging in sports at the national level, but the Punjab government is making sincere efforts to restore the old glory of Punjab.
Speaking at the Sportstar Sports Conclave - ‘Focus Punjab’ held here, Mr. Hayer said the State government has come out with a new sports policy and has been working continuously for the past two years to create a sports culture in the State. The tangible results of which were revealed during the Asian Games last year when 32 players from Punjab won 20 medals, breaking a 72-year-old record, he said.
On this occasion, he also honoured World Cup-winning Hockey Olympian Retired Brigadier Harcharan Singh and Uday Saharan, captain of the Indian team that reached the final of the U-19 Men’s World Cup recently. Mr. Saharan won the ‘Emerging Hero’ award while Retired Brigadier Harcharan Singh was honoured with the Sportstar Hero Unsung Champion award.
Mr. Mayer said under the new sports policy, cash prize money was kept for the preparation of every game. “For the first time, 58 Punjabi players who participated in the Asian Games were given ₹8 lakh per player for preparation. Now ₹15 lakhs will be given to each athlete for the preparation of the Olympic Games. Around 1,000 sports nurseries are being established out of which 260 nurseries have been started in the first phase,” he added.
He said that the main focus of the State government is to identify the talent at the lower level and give them opportunities to progress.
