The Indian sportsmen who took home a medal from this year's Olympics in Tokyo had some good news. On July 23, the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) announced that a budget of Rs 4 crore ($500,0000) will be allocated for the country's Olympic medallists. The Indian Olympic Association received a contribution of Rs 10 crore last year previous to the Olympics, which funded this budget.
Prior to this, BCCI also presented awards to medal winners, including Neeraj Chopra, who received Rs 1 crore for winning the gold medal in the javelin thrower event, and Lovlina Borgohain, who received Rs 25 lakh for placing third in the women's welterweight competition, and the Indian hockey team, which received Rs 1.25 crore for finishing in third place at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Many fans congratulated Neeraj Chopra on his triumph. This is due to Chopra's victory in the men's javelin throw, which provided India with first Olympic medal in athletics, much alone a gold medal. Furthermore, this gold medal marks India's second individual medal in a Summer Olympics, following Abhinav Bindra's gold medal in the shooting category at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Furthermore, fans viewed it intriguing because Chopra missed the Doha World Championship due to an elbow injury he sustained before the Tokyo Olympics. Fortunately, luck was still on his side since he qualified for the Olympics and regained his health by competing in an athletic event in South Africa in January 2020.
Moreover, Chopra stated that the Tokyo Olympics 2020 postponement because of the pandemic was seen as a blessing in disguise since it gave him extra time to exercise and strengthen himself.
“I took the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics positively as I thought I have got one more year for training. In that one year, I worked on my weaknesses like improving some techniques and gaining strength,” Chopra said.
The BCCI also gave awards to other athletes, including Mirabai Chanu, a weightlifter, and Ravi Dahiya, a wrestler, for their contributions to bringing home silver medals. For their work in helping the wrestler win the bronze medal, Bajrang Punia and the Indian Badminton player, PV Sindhu, each received Rs 25 lakh.
Contribution to the community from BCCI
The BCCI spent money from their budget, in addition to the Rs 18 they had already allocated for the Olympics, to assist the government in coping with the pandemic by donating 2000 oxygen concentrators with a capacity of 10 litres each.
"Over the next few months, the Board will distribute the concentrators across India with the hope that critical medical aid and care will be provided to the needy patients and this initiative will reduce the havoc unleashed by the pandemic," said one of the board members in a report.
The BCCI added that the nation has been affected by a second-wave coronavirus pandemic, hence they intended to help to provide medical supplies.
"The nation has been hit by an unprecedented second wave of the coronavirus with demands for medical equipment and life-saving oxygen witnessing a major spike."
