The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) kept its promise and promptly presented the cash awards for the Commonwealth Games medallists at a felicitation function here on Saturday.
The acting president of IOA, Anil Khanna, congratulated the Indian contingent for finishing fourth in the medals table with 23 gold, 16 silver and 23 bronze.
The gold winners were presented ₹20 lakh, while it was ₹10 lakh for silver and ₹7.5 lakh for the bronze medallists.
It was a happy day for the athletes, as they had attended the felicitation by the Prime Minister earlier in the day.
The IOA president Anil Khanna said that he had a fruitful discussion with the Organising Committee Chairman of the Victoria Games, and assured that India would make a strong pitch for the inclusion of shooting and wrestling in the next Games, and possibly archery as well.
‘’The Victoria Games are going to be held in five cities. There is a good possibility of more games being held. The Commonwealth Games is extremely important for us. Indian women’s cricket, lawn bowling and a whole of athletes have got tremendous recognition from the Games’’, he said.
Anil Khanna also assured that the IOA would soon have election and have a robust role to play in Indian sports, with excellent support from the government.
‘’Already all the federations are following the sports code. We are working on the IOA constitution. We have the highest respect for the IOC. But we have to follow the law of the land’’, said Anil Khanna, while throwing light on the status of the IOA.
