Uttar Pradesh To Adopt Wrestling For Ten Years, Meerut Sports University To Be Named After Major Dhyan Chand : CM Yogi

New Delhi: Taking forward the motto of ‘Khelo India Khelo’, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to adopt two sports- wrestling and one more- and finance their promotion in the state for the next ten years, announced Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday. ''Of the two sports to be adopted by Uttar Pradesh, one will be wrestling. The second one for adoption will be selected soon by the Sports Department,'' said CM Yogi.

Speaking in a felicitation ceremony for India Tokyo Olympics medalists here at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium the CM also announced that the upcoming sports university in Meerut will be named after legendary Hockey player Major Dhyan Chand. The Uttar Pradesh government has also decided to construct a playground in every village and open a gym at every gram panchayat level.

In a mega event, the Uttar Pradesh government felicitated Tokyo Olympics medalists Neeraj Chopra, Ravi Dahiya, PV Sindhu, Lovlina Borgohain, Bajrang Punia among others. Various dignitaries, including Governor Anandiben Patel, were present on the occasion along with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

In a bid to encourage the sportspersons, CM Yogi presented a cash award of more than Rs 42 crores to the medal winners and coaches. Gold medalist Neeraj Chopra was awarded a cash award of Rs 2 crores. Silver medalists Ravi Dahiya and Mirabai Chanu received Rs 1.5 crores while bronze medalists PV Sindhu, Lovelina Borgohain and Bajrang Punia received Rs 1 crore each.

Apart from this, the Uttar Pradesh government also felicitated the Indian men and women hockey teams. The bronze-medal winning men's hockey team got Rs 1 crores for each member. The women's hockey team was given Rs 50 lakhs for each member. CM Yogi also gave the cash award of Rs 50 lakh each to golfer Aditi Ashok and wrestler Deepak Punia.

At the same time, an additional incentive amount of Rs 25 lakhs was given to the participating players of Uttar Pradesh including Lalit Upadhyay, Vandana Kataria, Priyanka Goswami, Annu Rani, Seema Punia, Saurabh Chaudhary, Meraj Ahmed Khan, Arvind Singh, Satish Singh, Shivpal Singh.

 Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium witnessed the heartfelt bonding of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath with sports. By giving unprecedented respect to those who raised the country's honour in the Tokyo Olympics, the CM engraved the live figures of sports and players from all over India in this stadium in Lucknow. Such charged was the atmosphere that Neeraj Chopra, the boy with a golden arm, dubbed the UP government event to felicitate Tokyo Olympians as the ‘function of India’.