In a unique gesture, the Delhi Golf Club on Tuesday announced cash awards of a total of Rs 50 lakhs for all medal winners from the 2016 Rio Olympics and Paralympics. There is no distinction in terms of prize money between able-bodied athletes and differently abled participants in Paralympics, according to the president of the club Rajesh Dhingra.
The difference in amount is based on the medals. The prizes are Rs 10 lakhs for gold, Rs 7.5 lakhs for silver and Rs 5 lakhs for bronze.
Dhingra, a former Secretary of the Sports Authority of India, said: “I hope that when India’s golfers perform at the highest level then they too will get felicitated by other organisations. This will help raise the profile of sports people all over the country.”
In addition, the Delhi Golf Club has also announced a cash award of Rs 5 lakhs for Pullela Gopichand’s Badminton academy in Hyderabad. Sindhu thanked the Delhi Golf Club saying “every award is special for me and further motivates me to win for my country.”
Gopichand said: “I am pleasantly surprised to receive a contribution from a golf club and I hope to reciprocate by welcoming any of our national golfers to my academy for training if it helps them.”
Deepa Malik, the first Indian woman to win a Paralympics medal, also thanked the DGC. “This is a perfect example of the Amul tag line of Para athletes being on ‘Para’ with the able bodied ones. Cash prizes of the same value for both are a welcome gesture.”
The club hopes to invite all the Rio winners to the club for a felicitation and to try their hand at golf. The club has a rich history of supporting the game, especially caddy turned golfers like two-time Indian Open champion Ali Sher who was made an honorary member.
Asian Games Gold Medalist and Arjuna Awardee Shiv Kapur is another famous name from here. More recently, the DGC had provided playing and coaching facilities to Shubham Jaglan who is a world junior champion.
The awardees are:
Devendra Jhajharia , Paralympics Gold Medalist in Javelin gets Rs 10 lakhs,
Thangavelu Mariyappan , Paralympics Gold Medalist in High Jump gets Rs 10 lakhs,
P. V. Sindhu , Olympics Silver Medalist in Badminton gets Rs 7.5 lakhs,
Deepa Malik , Paralympics Silver Medalist in Shot Put gets 7.5 lakhs,
Varun Bhati , Paralympics Bronze Medalist in High Jump gets Rs 5 lakhs, and
Sakshi Malik , Olympics Bronze Medalist in Wrestling gets Rs 5 lakhs.
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