Sharp rise in prize money for Khel Ratna, Arjuna and Dronacharya awardees… details here

New Delhi: In a bid to encourage and reward the sportsperson for their hard endeavors in bringing laurels to the nation, the Centre today announced sharp rise in prize money in National Sports Awards. The revision in prize money will be effective in 4 out of 7 categories of National Sports and Adventure Awards.

Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju announced the enhancement on the occasion of the National Sports Day today.

The prize money for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award has been increased to Rs 25 lakh from previous amount of Rs 7.5 lakh.

Arjuna Awardees will now get Rs 15 lakh rupees in place of Rs 5 lakh. The Dhronacharya (Lifetime) awardees, who were earlier given Rs 5 lakh will now be given Rs 15 lakh as cash prize, while Dhronacharya (Regular) will be given Rs 10 lakh instead of Rs 5 lakh per awardee. Dhyanchand Awardees will be given Rs 10 lakh instead of Rs 5 lakh.

Speaking about the decision, Mr. Rijiju said, the prize money for the Sports Awards was last reviewed in 2008. He said these amounts should be reviewed once every 10 years at least. He added that if professionals in every field have seen an enhancement in their earnings, sportspersons should also get enhanced earnings.

Sports Minister pays tributes to hockey wizard

Earlier, the minister paid floral tributes to hockey wizard Major Dhyanchand at his statue in Dhyan Chand Stadium in Delhi.

Rijiju congratulated the winners of National Sports Awards for the accolades and honours they brought to India. He said that the performance of Indian athletes at international level has gone up as compared to the past.

Sports Minister @KirenRijiju met the athletes who received the National Sports Awards in Delhi as part of the first ever virtual National Sports Awards function. @realmanubhaker Sandeep Chaudhary, Ajay Sawant, Deepti Sharma. @adgpi pic.twitter.com/DVSr7bbj7T

— Kiren Rijiju Office (@RijijuOffice) August 29, 2020

Earlier in the day, President Ram Nath Kovind virtually conferred the National Sports and Adventure Award 2020 on the occasion of National Sports Day.

President Kovind presented Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Arjuna Award, Dronacharya Award, Dhyan Chand Award, Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award and Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar.