Sports Minister gives cash awards to SAG medallists

Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday anunced a cash reward of Rs 1.5 lakh for 174 gold medallists of South Asian Games held in Nepal. South Asian Games concluded on Tuesday with India topping table for 13th time in a row, winning 312 medals including 174 gold, 93 silver and 45 bronze. silver and bronze winners will receive Rs 1 lakh and Rs 50,000 respectively.

"Going forward, we will have will have a structured cash reward policy for medallists in South Asian Games, like we have it for or multi sporting events like Olympics, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games," said Rijiju at a felicitation ceremony for medallists.

"se Games should be a stepping stone for bigger things ahead. I congratulate all medal winners and even those who participated. I wanted to give m more but due to financial constraints we could t this time around," he said.

Asked about shooter Ravi Kumar and boxer Sumit Sangwan being tested positive for a banned substance, minister added: "Doping is a serious issue all around world. game should be clean and transparent and we are trying to increase awareness on doping.

"I don't want players to misguided due to lack of information. We want to sensitise each of our athlete so that he or she doesn't fall into trap of doping."

As per reports in Bangladesh media, its gold medallists were promised Rs 5 lakh each.