The Kejriwal government held a felicitation ceremony on Thursday for the Delhi-based Olympians and Paralympians who brought laurels to the country from various international events.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal felicitated the sportspersons who participated in the Tokyo Olympics-2020. Olympic Silver Medalist Ravi Dahiya was awarded a Samman Rashi of Rs 2 crore and appointed as Assistant Director in the Sports Department.

Kejriwal appealed to all the players to prepare and motivate the children of Delhi and the country to take up sports and bring laurels for the nation.

He said the Delhi government would give as much priority to sports as it gave to health and education. The Delhi government’s Sports University will prepare players of an international pedigree along with giving degrees in sports to students.

The felicitation ceremony was organised by the Directorate of Education and Sports at the Delhi Secretariat where the Chief Minister was the chief guest. Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot was present as the special guest.

Those honoured included Ravi Dahiya, Sharad Kumar, Simran, Sarthak Bhambri, Amod Jacob and Kashish Lakra, who won medals and represented India at the international level.

Wrestler Ravi Dahiya was given a cheque for Rs 2 crore for winning the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics-2020 and athlete Sharad Kumar was handed over a cheque for Rs 1 crore for winning the bronze medal in the high jump at the Paralympics. At the same time, cheques for Rs 10 lakh each was handed over to Kashish Lakra and Simran, Rs 5 lakh each to Sarthak Bhambri and Amod Jacob.

Kejriwal also shared the news on Twitter and said, “Today 6 players from Delhi including Shri Ravi Dahiya Ji, who brought medals for India in Tokyo Olympics, were honored by the Delhi Government. Ravi Ji was handed over an honorarium of Rs 2 crore and appointed as Assistant Director in the Sports Department. These players of Delhi have made the whole country proud.”

Addressing the event, Kejriwal said, “Today is an extremely joyous day for us for we are honouring six of our country’s heroes — Ravi Dahiya, Sharad Kumar, Sarthak Bhambri, Amoj Jacob, Simran, and Kashish. We always say that the two crore people of Delhi are like a family to us. And when a child in our family excels in something, the entire family feels elated and proud. Sweets are distributed as a way to celebrate them. Similarly, these six children of our family have made the country proud at national and international levels and brought name and fame to the 1.3 billion people of India. We are extremely proud of their achievements.”