The Punjab Sports Minister Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi announced the Indian hockey team announced an award of Rs 2.25 crore individually for all the state players if they manage to win the gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics 2020.
This is for both men and women and the aim is to boost the morale of the team. This announcement comes on a day when India tasted success in both men’s and women’s divisions on the hockey field.
Talking about Indian Men’s hockey, the team finished second in Pool A behind Australia and so far won four out of their five games. The team started the tournament defeating New Zealand 3-2 with Harmanpreet Singh scoring twice in the match. They lost to Australia 1-7.
And in the next outing, the Indian team defeated Spain 3-0. Before scoring late goals to win the match 3-1, India held the defending champions for a goal-less draw till the second quarter. The team later defeated host Japan 5-3 on Friday to finish second in the table.
India has now got to play against Great Britain, who have finished third in Pool B, in the quarter-finals on August 1. On the other hand, India’s Women Hockey team too won by defeating the 2018 World Cup finalist Ireland 1-0.
Having only registered one win so far, Rani Rampal and the team need to win against South Africa in order to grab a place in the final eight. India will play their final Pool A match Today, on Saturday.
Tags Indian Hockey Rana Gurmeet Singh Tokyo Olympics