Hry: 6 players get Arjuna awards, 1 coach gets Dronacharya award

Chandigarh: Six players and one coach from Haryana have been honoured with the National Sports Award 2022. Athlete Seema Punia (Sonipat), boxer Amit Panghal (Rohtak), Kabaddi player Sakshi (Sonipat), wrestlers Anshu Malik (Jind) and Sarita Mor (Sonipat) and badminton para-player Tarun Dhillon (Hisar) were awarded with the Arjuna Award, while wrestling coach Raj Singh (Sonipat) was honoured with the Dronacharya Award in the Lifetime category.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar congratulated the sportspersons for being honoured with the National Sports awards. He said that the players of the sports capital Haryana, perform brilliantly and bring laurels in various national and international level competitions; resulting to win maximum medals for the state.

Khattar said that Haryana has consistently remained at the number one spot in sports. "Haryana is the first state in the country, which gives maximum cash prize money to medal-winning sportspersons. The government has made a provision of Rs 6 crore for gold medalists, Rs 4 crore for silver medalists and Rs 2.5 crore for bronze medalists in Olympic Games. Haryana is ahead of many countries in terms of reward for medal winners," he asserted. He said that Haryana's sports policy has been appreciated not only in the country but also abroad for giving maximum prize money to the players, adding that the other states had also visited here to follow Haryana's sports policy.