On September 23, at the felicitation event of the Asian Games 2018 medalists organised by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), the names of 15 medalists were misspelt in the cheques of their prize. On top of that, the name of wrestler Divya Kakran, bronze medalist was left out. At the end of the event, the IOA ended up handing over just the bouquets to the sportsmen whose names were incorrectly written. 

Background

India portrayed a dominant performance at the Asian Games 2018 and managed to secure 8th position at the Asian Games with a total number of 69 medals. Out of the 69, 15 players won Gold, 24 players won Silver, and 30 players won Bronze.

Appreciating their performance, the IOA decided to award the individual gold, silver and bronze medalists with Rs 5 lakh, Rs 3 lakh and Rs 2 lakh respectively which was an initiative taken for the first time. Rs 3 lakh, Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh respectively was awarded to the gold, silver and bronze medal winners in the team events, reported Scroll.

Rajeev Mehta, the Secretary-General of the IOA, told the PTI, “The Players performed so well that we decided to award them with cash incentives, and there is always a first time. We will continue to give cash awards in future be it the Olympics, Commonwealth Games or the Asian games”.

Wrestler Divya Kakran’s controversy

When the felicitation event was about to end, the mistake of leaving out Bronze medalist Diya Kakran’s name was pointed out. Narinder Batra, the President of the IOA, called Sports Minister Rajvardhan Singh Rathore, the chief guest of the event to announce the award prize for Kakran.

It was Kakran’s parents who erected the concern of mistake. As reported by India Today, Kakran’s mother told the PTI, “I don’t know what’s happening because I have already given her name.”

What IOA Had To Say

Narinder Batra said, “I would like to apologise in advance for our mistake. Around 14-15 players name misspelt on cheques. I didn’t want to give cheques with misspelt names, no need to worry you will get your cash prizes.”

He further added saying, “We should now target double-digit medal in the Olympics. We are a country of a billion people, there is no dearth of support from Ministry or Sports authority of India. We have to achieve this feat, there should be no compromise.”

The Logical Indian Take

Amidst all the contentment of Asian Games, India as a country this year have performed quite well and this year it gave a fierce competition to other South Asian countries like China and Japan. So, it is the moral responsibility of our Government to uphold the winning spirit of the sportsmen/sportswomen and appreciate them, letting them know that cricket is not the only sport that has importance in this country.

These are our national heroes who work hard to make our country proud and also to make themselves better. So, it’s our moral responsibility to solve these errors and respect our national heroes. The amount of money rewarded to cricketers is much more than that compared to the one in Asian games. Athletes work hard to reach a position and make our country proud in these competitions. We take pride in their achievements and yet we as a society fail when it comes to felicitating them.

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