Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh honoured Olympic Tokyo Games stars from Punjab at a grand ceremony in Chandigarh on Thursday and invited them to dinner, promising to cook for them.
"I am not too fond of eating but I do like cooking quite a bit. I will cook for all of you... All medallists will also be offered jobs by the Punjab government. We will have schools and roads named after you," he said.
The Olympic medal winners and participants were given cash awards worth over Rs 32 crore by the Chief Minister, according to news agency PTI. Olympian Gold Medallist Neeraj Chopra was also invited to the event but he couldn't attend.
Cash rewards for 11 players from the state, who were part of the Indian hockey team that won the bronze medal after 41 years, was raised from Rs 1 crore to Rs 2.51 crore each, Punjab Sports Minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi said.
Led by Manpreet Singh, the Indian hockey team has a number of players from the state including vice-captain Harmanpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Simranjit Singh, Mandeep Singh, Gurjant Singh, Shamsher Singh, Varun Kumar, Dilpreet Singh, Hardik Singh and Krishan Pathak.
Mr Sodhi said the members of the Indian women's hockey team, which finished fourth, from the state - Reena Khokhar and Gurjit Kaur - and discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur, who took the sixth position, were given Rs 50 lakh each.
Boxer Simranjit Kaur, shooters Anjum Moudgill and Angadveer Singh, athletes Tejinder Pal Singh Toor and Gurpreet Singh and paralympic badminton player Palak Kohli were given Rs 21 lakh each.
(With inputs from PTI)
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