Ace Athletes Vinesh Phogat & Bajrang Punia Slam Govt. For Cutting Prize Money, Minister Denies Claims

The plight of Indian athletes in India hardly needs an introduction. They surely bring us several medals to flaunt but their journey from villages to the tournaments breaks our hearts. Some struggle to make their ends meet by selling fruits roadside while others work hard to fund their own training as they seldom receive any help from the government.

Haryana has given us some ace athletes like Vinesh Phogat, Yogeshwar Dutt, Bajrang Punia who have held our country’s head high by winning medals in different international championships. But they have recently come forward and accused the Haryana government of cutting into their prize money.

Asian wrestling champion Bajrang Punia came forward to accuse the government of cutting their prize money. “Haryana youth gave medals to the country. Haryana may be a small state, but it has made the entire country proud on numerous occasions. Their (players’) morale should not be lowered by cut in prize money. My request to Haryana government is to reconsider this,” Punia tweeted.

“On one hand the government is introducing schemes like ‘Tops Khelo India’ to encourage the athletes, while on the other hand, sportsmen in Haryana are being brought down”, he added.

Vinesh Phogat too called out the government with a tweet about the same. “Every time you try right here how to annoy players. I have not seen such an insulting Government of sportspersons in Haryana till today. I want to ask you how many players you have done to give you prize money and jobs till date,” she wrote.

She claimed that the government did not keep their promise made five years ago that no athlete will be forced to leave Haryana and will be guaranteed respect and reward.

Sports Minister of Haryana, Anij Vij came up with a reply to both the wrestlers and claimed that his government has never disrespected any athlete. “On the basis of sports policy prize money has been distributed. If there is some discrepancy they can speak to the department. We have never disrespected our sportspersons,” he said, reports India Today.

According to IE, Haryana’s new sports policy says, “In case a sportsperson wins more than one medal during a financial year, he/she will receive full award money for the highest medal and at 50 percent of the award money for the second and subsequent medals.”

Apart from the cricketers, other sportsmen in our country have many a time complained about negligence and lack of facilities by the government. We hope that the athletes who make our country proud are respectfully given everything they deserve!

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