Chandigarh, Dec 18- Haryana Chief Minister Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said that the state had achieved new dimensions in sports as well alongwith other areas of development. Haryana had become a pioneer state in the country to give better sports facilities to the sportspersons.
The Chief Minister was talking to sportspersons at Irrigation Rest House in Rohtak. These sports persons had won trophy in national para swimming championship organised recently at Kolhapur in Maharashtra.
Mr Hooda said that the state government had honoured the outstanding sportspersons of the state for bringing laurels to the country and the state by winning medals in national and international sports competitions. Provision of reservation in government jobs had been made for the outstanding sportspersons of the state. The state government was making sustained efforts to strengthen sports culture in the state.
Referring to the steps taken by the state government to promote sports in the state, Mr Hooda said that as many as 11 residential sports nurseries and 293 day boarding centres had already been set up in the state and the process was still on. The amount of scholarship and prize money was directly being credited to the accounts of the sportspersons. The gradation certificates would be provided online to the sportspersons and database of 1,12,689 participating sportspersons had been prepared to achieve this objective. It was first of its kind endeavour in the country.
He said that scholarships were provided to the sportspersons selected under Haryana sports Talent Hunt Scheme. The selected sportspersons in the age group of 8 to 14 years were given a monthly scholarship of Rs 1500 and those in the age group of 15 to 19 got Rs 2000.
It may be recalled that national para swimming championship was organised recently at Kolhapur in Maharashtra. The sportspersons of Haryana namely Master Sukhbir, Rajesh, Rajesh Rohtak, Mahender, Rajbir and Rajesh Bhiwani, who participated in the championship, won trophy for the state in water polo.