Chhattisgarh CM honours state’s top athletes at Raipur awards ceremony

Raipur: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai honoured the state’s top athletes at an awards ceremony held at the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Auditorium on August 29. Union Minister of State for Housing and urban development Tokhan Sahu, Assembly Speaker Raman Singh, and several ministers and MLAs attended the event.

A total of Rs 76 lakh in prize money was distributed among 97 awardees for the years 2021-22 and 2022-23. Additionally, Rs 60.33 lakh was transferred to the bank accounts of 502 medal-winning players, bringing the total disbursements to Rs one crore 36 lakh 33 thousand. For the year 2021-22, awards included the Shaheed Rajiv Pandey Award for six players, Shaheed Kaushal Yadav Award for six players, Veer Hanuman Singh Award for two players, Shaheed Pankaj Vikram Samman for eleven players, Shaheed Vinod Choubey Samman for five players, and the Chief Minister Trophy for eleven players.

In 2022-23, the awards were distributed as follows: Shaheed Rajiv Pandey Award for four players, Shaheed Kaushal Yadav Award for seven players, Veer Hanuman Singh Award for one player, Shaheed Pankaj Vikram Samman for fifteen players, Shaheed Vinod Choubey Samman for five players, and the Chief Minister Trophy for twenty-four players.

The ceremony was attended by Cabinet ministers Lakhan Lal Dewangan, Dayaldas Baghel, Ramvichar Netam, Shyam Bihari Jaiswal, Raipur MP Brijmohan Agrawal, and several MLAs, along with Secretary of the sports department Himshikhar Gupta and Director of sports and youth welfare Tanuja Salam.