Rupees One lac for each World Cup goal a reality.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan is ready to disburse rupees one lac each for each Indian goals scored in the recent World Cup.
The team, which scored 15 goals, is to get Rs. 15 lac from Madhya Pradesh government. The chief minister himself announced this while inaugurating the 68th Obaidullah Khan Gold Cup tournament in Bhopal.
It is to be seen how the purse will be shared by the Indian hockey team, as goal is just a reflection of team work, name of scorers are just for the sack of statistics.
This hockey lover chief minister in the recent past gave Rs. 1 crore towards the women hockey players who were then demanding gender parity with Hockey India. For a symbolic gesture, he also wore a black band on the occasion of him disbursing the said purse.
The chief minister watched the full match between Punjab National Bank and Bharat Petroleum which the later won by a good score of 3-2. He also awarded the man of the match prize to BPCL’s Birender Lakra.
While speaking on the occasion, the sport loving Chief Minister said that money is not a problem for developing hockey sport as his state budget is about Rs. 50k crores!
During the opening ceremony, he also honoured Olympians like Mukhbain Singh, Harbinder Singh, Ajit Singh besides local heroes Ashok Kumar, Jalalludin Rizvi, Inam-ur-Rahman and Samir Dad.
13 teams are participating in the ongoing Obaiduallah Cup.
They are: Bharat Petroleum, PNB, Indian Oil, ONGC, West Central Railway (Jabalpur), South central Railways (Secunderabad), Punjab and Sind Bank, Air India, MP State Hockey Academy, South Eastern Central Railway (Bilaspur) Army XI and Steel authority of India Ltd and Sports Authority of India.
Pic: Aisbagh stadium on the eve of opening ceremony of Obaidullah Khan Gold Cupon Wednesday, the 24th Mar 2010.