Gujarat CM honours CWG medallists from state

Ahmedabad, Aug 17

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Wednesday honoured the sportspersons from the state who won medals at the recently-concluded Commonwealth Games in Birmingham with the Khel Pratibha Award. Harmit Desai, who won the gold in table tennis team event, was awarded Rs 35 lakh; Bhavina Patel, the gold medallist in para table tennis singles event, received Rs 25 lakh; while bronze medallist para athlete Sonal Patel was presented a cheque of Rs 10 lakh.

The Chief Minister also presented Rs 5 lakh each to Yasmika Bhatia and Radha Yadav, members of the women's cricket team that won the silver.

Speaking on the occasion, Patel said the state government will provide all the support to the sportspersons to help them excel at the international level, including advanced training, incentives and all the necessary facilities.

Minister of State for Sports, Harsh Sanghvi, said that the state government has increased the budget for sports so that the sportspersons continue to get encouraged and make Gujarat a leader in every sporting discipline.

--IANS