JSW Group announces Rs 1 crore award for Neeraj Chopra

Mumbai: The JSW Group has announced awards amounting to more than Rs 2.5 crore for all the Indian medal winners at the recently-concluded Tokyo Olympics.

Tokyo Olympics gold-medallist, Neeraj Chopra, who became the first Indian to win a medal in athletics, will be awarded Rs 1 crore cash grant while his coach Klaus Bartonietz and physiotherapist Ishaan Marwaha will be awarded Rs 10 lakh each, the company said in a release on Thursday.

Wrestler Bajrang Punia, who won bronze medal in 65kg category, will be awarded Rs 15 lakh while his coach Emzarios Bentinidis and physiotherapist Manish Chetri will be awarded Rs 5 lakh each.

Another wrestler, Ravi Dahiya, who won a silver in men's 57kg, will be presented with Rs 20 lakh while his coach Satpal Singh will be awarded Rs 5 lakh, the release added.

Each member of the Indian men's hockey team, along with head coach, physio and assistant coach, will be awarded Rs 2 lakh for winning bronze medal, India's first medal in 41 years. A grant of Rs 1 lakh each will also be awarded to four other coaching staff.

Shuttler P.V. Sindhu will be awarded Rs 15 lakh for winning bronze medal in women's singles while her coach Park Tae-Sang will get Rs 5 lakh, added the release.

Similarly, bronze medal-winning boxer Lovlina Borgohain will be awarded Rs 15 lakh while her coaches Raffaele Bergamasco and Sandhya Gurung will be awarded Rs 5 lakh each.

Mirabai Chanu, who won silver medal in women's 49kg weightlifting, will be given Rs 20 lakh while her coach Vijay Sharma will be presented Rs 5 lakh.

These cash awards are a goodwill gesture by JSW to all the Indian athletes who brought home an Olympic medal and made India proud, the release added.

According to Parth Jindal, Founder of Inspire Institute of Sport and JSW Sports, "JSW Group acknowledges the contribution of each of these athletes and their coaches in ensuring the Indian flag was flying high at Tokyo. While cricket has been India's No. 1 sport, I believe that as a country of 1.4 billion, we have much more space for new sports stars to emerge. This year's performance has been the tipping point for India to acknowledge and recognise our sporting achievement and potential on a global stage."

The cash grants announced by JSW Group will be awarded to the athletes in September at a ceremony to be scheduled at Inspire Institute of Sport.