Akhilesh announces pension for award-winning sportspersons

The function was held at CM’s residence on the occasion of birth anniversary of hockey wizard Major Dhyanchand. Akhilesh also announced a hike in financial assistance to state level players from Rs 2,000 to Rs 4,000 per month.

National players will now get financial assistance of Rs 6,000, up from earlier Rs 3,000 per month. International players will now get enhanced assistance of Rs 10,000 per month from earlier Rs 5,000.

The Rani Lakshmibai award —- Rs 50,000 cash, bronze statue of Rani Lakshmibai and a citation —- for women sportspersons was awarded to Sudha Singh (athletics), Shradha Dixit (taekwando), Ranjana Gupta (shooting), Sthawi Asthana (horse riding), Indu Gupta (handball), Megha Saraswat (soft tennis) and veteran Olympian Razia Zaidi (hockey). Male sportspersons were given Laxman award.

The awardees are Devesh Kumar (gymnastics), Himanshu Tiwari (swimming), Chadraoday (athletics), Ravikant Mishra (tennis ball cricket), Ram Asrey Yadav (Judo), Anirudh Singh (shooting), Atul Shri Patel (soft tennis), Tushar Khandekar (hockey) and Ajit Kumar Singh (shooting).