GFI promises Rs 10 lakhs to CWG'10 gold medallists

Gymnastics Federation of India today promised a cash award of Rs 10 lakhs for the gymnasts who will fetch gold medal in the Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi from October 3-14.

With this, the GFI award will match the amount presently being offered by Union Sports Ministry to the sportspersons excelling in various disciplines in the Commonwealth and the Asian Games.

GFI President Jaspal Singh Kandhari said here that the idea behind the move is to encourage and give incentives to all those deserving gymnasts who bring laurels to the country.

The gymnasts who bag silver and bronze medal in the Games will be awarded Rs 5 lakhs and Rs 3 lakhs respectively, he said.

Kandhari said the decision to give the award was taken in their Annual General Council Meeting held at Hyderabad recently. As many as 28 units are affiliated to the GFI.

In order to give exposure to the Commonwealth Games probables, the men and women artistic teams will take part in various international championships to be held in France and Russia in the coming two months.

These probables are now being trained at the coaching camp at Pune under the watchful eyes of a reputed foreign coaches, Kandhari said.

The mandatory test event of gymnastics before the Delhi Games will be held in July this year at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex, venue of the gymnastic events of the CWG, he added.