Ministry doubles pension amount for Int'l medallists

New Delhi: An Olympic medallist is now entitled to a pension of Rs 20,000 per month with the Sports Ministry doubling the amount following a revision in is pension policy.

A medal winner at Paralympics will also be entitled to the same amount as an Olympic medallist.

A gold medallist in a World Cup or at the Asian Games will get Rs 16,000, a silver medallist Rs 14000 and a bronze medal winner will get Rs 12,000.

"The rate of pension of medal winners in the Para-Olympics Games and Para Asian Games will be at par with the medal winners in the Olympic Games and Asian Games respectively and only a World Championships held once in four years will be considered for pension," a press release said.

In the revised scheme, a sportsperson should have retired from active sports career and attained the age of 30 years at the time of applying pension under the scheme. An undertaking to this effect will be given by the sportsperson in the application form itself.

In the case of existing pensioners, the revision in the rate of pension will be effective from April 1, 2018.