Madhya Pradesh: The Olympic players of the Indian women’s hockey team have been awarded a cash prize of Rs 31 lakh each at Minto Hall today at 2:30 PM by CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. “Our women’s hockey team put up a great game in Olympics. They may have lost but won hearts. We have decided that all the members of this team will be honoured with Rs 31 lakh each. I believe that our daughters will win in future,” joint director of sports Vinod Pradhan said in a statement.
The team reached Bhopal on Monday evening for the program. The team was welcomed at the airport by playing drums and flower garlands. Apart from Shivraj and Sports Minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia, the Hockey Federation of India and Indian Olympic Association President Narendra Dhruv Batra were also present in the program. Apart from this, Hockey India President Gyanendrao Nigombam, Hockey India CEO Elena Norman, Secretary Rajendra Singh and Women’s Hockey team Coach Tushar Khandekar also attended the event.
The Indian women’s hockey team’s dream of securing its maiden Olympic medal remained unfulfilled as they lost 3-4 to Great Britain in a hard-fought bronze play-off but the Indian side managed to record its best-ever finish at the Games. Sushila Chanu, Monika Malik and Reena Khokar were trained at MP Hockey Academy, while Vandana Kataria and E Rajni played for Madhya Pradesh earlier.