Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh announced to increase the incentives awarded to medal winners of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) and the National Games. He made the announcement during the Felicitation Ceremony of the medal winners and participants of the 36th National Games-2022, Gujarat and 2nd North East Olympic Games-2022, Shillong held at Khuman Lampak Sports Complex, Imphal on Wednesday.
The chief minister informed that the incentives awarded to gold medallists of CWG will be increased from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 20 lakh, silver medallists from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh and that of participants will be provided Rs 4 lakh.
Regarding the National Games, he announced that incentives for individual players winning gold medal will be increased from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, for silver medallist from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3 lakh and for bronze medallist from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh.
For the team, the incentives for gold, silver and bronze medals will be increased to Rs 15 lakh, Rs 10 lakh and Rs 5 lakh respectively, he added.
Acknowledging the efforts of coaches for the achievements of players, N Biren also announced to increase incentives for coaches from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7 lakh for gold, from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh for silver and that of bronze from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 3 lakh.
Biren assured that the government will take up necessary actions in consultation with the Youth Affairs and Sports (YAS) Minister for implementation of the same at the earliest.
The chief minister maintained that the objective of the state government is to create avenues for the people and support them. Stating that achievement-oriented thinking is important for carrying out a task, he mentioned that the government is putting in every effort to develop infrastructures of various sectors, including games and sports.
Biren also stated that the government has initiated the process of increasing the sitting capacity of the gallery of Khuman Lampak Main Stadium to around 70,000. He deliberated on the plan to construct a Stadium with crowd capacity of 1 lakh and mentioned the identification of land measuring 50 acres at Imphal West District for the same.
He further said the Manipur Olympian Park which is being developed at Sangaithel would be inaugurated soon and Union Home Minister Amit Shah had been invited to inaugurate it. He spoke on the Chief Minister’s Akhannaba Sanaroisingi Tengbang (CMAST) scheme launched for the welfare of the state’s sportsperson.
The chief minister urged young athletes of the state not just to aim for getting a government job after winning medals in the national events, rather aim for the Olympic Games. He added that the government would also discuss matters relating to providing jobs to gold medal winning players at the national level.
YAS Minister Govindas Konthoujam, while addressing the gathering, stated that games and sports is the field which has made Manipur known to the world and added that the people of the state is privileged to have Biren as chief minister, who has always taken up much initiatives to develop the sports sector in the state. He continued that the state government had initiated work to upgrade the Khuman Lampak Complex to world class standard.
The minister further mentioned that the government has been putting efforts to develop sports infrastructure so that the state’s players can avail the same facilities as players of other big states do. He stressed the need for cooperation among different associations related to games and sports in increasing the number of medals at national and international events.
He also spoke on the importance of selecting the right and prospect players for participating in national and international level games. He extended his best wishes to sports players of the state in their future endeavours.
Manipur Olympic Association president AC Thokchom Radheshyam stressed the need of sportspersons to be passionate to win medals and added the importance of collaboration and not competition among different associations to achieve progress in the field of games and sports. He lauded the achievement of young and talented athletes of the state who are trained in less infrastructural facilities. He also spoke on the need to support our local players as we support famous footballers during the recent FIFA Football World Cup, to motivate them to bring more laurels for the state.
During the programme, the chief minister felicitated medal winners and participants of the 36th National Games-2022, Gujarat and 2nd North East Olympic Games-2022, Shillong. Cash rewards of Rs 10,000, Rs 7,000 and Rs 5,000 were given to gold, silver and bronze medal winners of 36th National Games-2022.
Further, a cash reward of Rs 10,000 was given to the associations of 18 disciplines which participated in the 2nd North East Olympic Games-2022, Shillong.
The felicitation ceremony which was organised by the MOA was also attended by Keishamthong MLA and Manipur Basketball Association president Nishikant Sapam, All Manipur Mukna Association president Th Arunkumar, Moirang MLA Thongam Shanti, Kakching MLA Mayanglambam Rameshwar, YAS principal secretary SS Chhabra, Olympians, coaches, sports players and MPA officials among others.
