Tokyo Olympics 2020: Railways announces cash prize for its athletes and coaches participating in Games

New Delhi: The railways announced special cash awards on Wednesday for its athletes and officials participating in the Tokyo Olympics, with a Rs 3 crore bonanza for a gold medal winner. Twenty-five athletes, five coaches and a physiotherapist from the Railway Sports Promotion Board are representing the Indian contingent in the Tokyo Olympics that started from 23 July. The railways is one of the biggest contributing organisations in the Olympics, accounting for about 20 per cent of the athletes in the Indian contingent. “To boost up their morale, Ministry of Railways has announced following special cash awards in favour of Indian Railways athletes and officials participating in the ongoing Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 as per following details, over and above existing policy,” a statement issued by the ministry said. This includes Rs 3 crore for a gold medal winner, Rs 2 crore for a silver medallist and Rs 1 crore for a bronze medallist. If an athlete ends up among the last eight participants in his event, he will get Rs 35 lakh and each participant will get Rs 7.5 lakh. The coach of a gold medal winner will receive Rs 25 Lakh, that of a silver medallist will get Rs 20 lakh while the coach of a bronze medallist will get Rs 15 lakh. The coaches of the other participant athletes will get Rs 7.5 lakh each. “This liberalised promotion policy will act as an incentive to the country’s elite sportspersons/coaches and reaffirms railways’ commitment to the promotion of sports in the country,” the statement said.