Telangana sports minister presents Rs 5 lakh cheque to B Sai Praneeth

HYDERABAD: Telangana sports minister V Srinivas Goud on Tuesday felicitated Tokyo-bound India’s badminton player B Sai Praneeth and his parents at his chambers here on Tuesday and wished him good luck ahead of the all-important Olympic Games.
The minister also presented a Rs 5 lakh cheque to Sai Praneeth, who is currently ranked No.15 in the world badminton. Sai Praneet is India's lone men’s singles player to qualify for the quadrennial Games.
World champion PV Sindhu, ranked No.7 in the world, will spearhead India’s challenge in the Tokyo Games while world No.10 doubles duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty carry the nation’s hopes in the men’s doubles.
Speaking on the occasion, the minister said the Telangana government under the leadership of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has been providing several incentives to sportspersons in the state. He said the state government has so far given Rs 25 crore and 87 lakh as cash incentives to various sports persons and Rs 9 crore to various sports associations.
He said a cabinet sub-committee was set up to make recommendations for developing the sports in the state. A new sports policy would be announced based on the recommendations of the committee soon. He thanked the corporate companies for their support in promoting the sports in the state.
He said the Telangana government has increased the incentives being provided to Olympic medal winners, accordingly Rs 2 crore would be given to gold medal winners at the Tokyo Games and Rs 1 crore to silver medallists and Rs 50 lakh to bronze medal winners.
SATS chairman A Venkateshwar Reddy, Devarkadra MLA Alla Venkateshwar Reddy and others were also present.