Punjab CM pats men’s hockey team for regaining India’s lost glory in hockey
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 12
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday announced that the state government would soon work out modalities for providing jobs to the medallists and asked the state chief secretary to examine the matter on the top priority before taking a final decision.
In his address on the occasion to honour the Olympic medallists and participants of Tokyo Olympics-2020 with cash prize of Rs 28.36 crore here at a glittering ceremony in Punjab Bhawan this evening who brought laurels to the country especially the state, the chief minister said Punjab has rewritten the history in the sporting annals of the country.
The chief minister along with Punjab Governor VP Singh Badnore also transferred the cash prize money online in the accounts of the Olympic medallists and participants.
As a token of respect and gratitude, the women hockey players presented a hockey stick to the chief minister with signatures of its entire team members.
Complimenting the stellar performance of the men’s hockey team in clinching the bronze medal after a gap of 41 years in Tokyo Olympics, the Punjab chief minister termed it as a beginning towards revival of India’s lost glory in hockey.
In recognition of the stupendous performance of state players in Tokyo Olympics, Capt Amarinder Singh announced to name the schools and approach roads leading to their native villages after the names of the players. He also asked PWD and School Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla to identify such schools and roads so as to give due honour to the players who made every Punjabi proud.
On the occasion, the chief minister promoted the men’s hockey team captain Manpreet Singh as Superintendent of Police from DSP in Punjab Police.
Reiterating his government’s commitment to provide the state-of-the-art infrastructure to the players so as to enable them to further excel in world class tournaments, the chief minister said that ‘The Maharaja Bhupinder Singh Punjab Sports University, Patiala’ would be instrumental in showcasing the rare talent of sportspersons from Punjab on global map.
He also asked the sports minister to chalk out a blueprint for developing ultra-modern stadiums for different sports in consultation with the players and their coaches so that they could practice in a professional manner as per world class standards and assured that there would be no dearth of funds for this purpose.
While making a special mention of hockey legend Balbir Singh Senior and iconic athlete Milkha Singh, he said nobody would have been happier than these two stalwarts at this rare achievement, had they been alive today.
He said the state government would also honour gold medal winner javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra the first ever Indian athlete to achieve the unique accomplishment, having roots in Punjab, who could not make it to attend this function.
Pointing out further, the chief minister said that the historic win in men’s hockey and indomitable spirit displayed by women’s hockey team and athlete Kamalpreet Kaur would ever inspire the budding players to further achieve the new heights of glory in national as well as international tournaments.
He also highly lauded the participation of Punjab players in boxing, shooting and athletics.
In his address, Punjab governor appreciated the spirit of these players to join the police force and also made an offer to the willing players for joining the Chandigarh Police.
He said that the talent pool in sports must come from the villages and well-equipped sports academies are required in our rural areas where the energies of the youth can be channelized towards sports.
