CHENNAI: With an aim to help athletes from Tamil Nadu win medals in Olympics, Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay launched ‘Dream Olympics’ initiative on Thursday. As part of the initiative, medallists of Asian Games, Para Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and Para Commonwealth Games will get a total of Rs 50 lakh per year for training in addition to Rs 1 lakh monthly stipend.
Vijay launched the initiative at an event organised by Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT) to felicitate participants and winners of 20th Asian Games and 46th Chess Olympiad.
A total of Rs 8.25 crore as incentive award was presented to 18 sportspersons from the state who won medals at the Asian Games held in Japan and the 46th Chess Olympiad.
A total of `18 lakh as incentive was presented to 12 women players of the Tamil Nadu team who emerged victorious in the National Sub-Junior Women’s Basketball Championship.
Further, `7 lakh each has been given as special financial assistance to the sportspersons who participated in the Para Asian Games.
Speaking at the event, Minister for Sports Development Aadhav Arjuna said the chief minister has given freedom to the department to create international level facilities including Olympic City and Olympic Centers and that state-of-the-art rehab facilities will be established in these centres. “Moreover, SDAT has signed MoUs to upgrade 32 vacant lands as sports grounds,” he added.
He recalled the government has increased the incentive for Olympics winners to Rs 5 crore (Gold), Rs 3 crore (Silver) and Rs 2 crore (Bronze) and assistance of Rs 15 lakh to athletes who qualify for the Olympics.
Aadhav also requested the Chief Minister to make PT periods in colleges mandatory every day to curb drug use. As announced in the budget, the department has taken steps to conduct a separate sporting event for transgender persons, he said.
Vithya Ramraj, who won three medals including a gold in Asian Games and broke PT Usha’s 43-year-old record in 400m hurdles, urged young athletes to put in their 100 per cent effort in training since the government is supporting their cause. The winners of silver and bronze medals also received the cheques for incentives from the chief minister.