Rs 10 lakh each to 6 Guj women heading for Tokyo Olympics, Paralympics

GANDHINAGAR: Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Wednesday announced a financial aid of Rs 10 lakh each of the six women players participating in the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, which commence on July 23.

In the entire history of the state, this is the first time that six women players from it are representing the country in the sports mega event. To incentivise these players, the Gujarat government decided to financially aid them with Rs 10 lakh each.

Rupani also sent his best wishes to "all the six daughters of Gujarat" and hoped that they bring glory to the state. Ahmedabad's Maana Patel will be representing India in the 100 metres backstroke event.

The 21-year-old has over 180 medals in her kitty, including 25 international, 72 national and 82 state level achievements.

Ankita Raina has qualified for tennis and Elavenil Valarivan for shooting. The other three women have qualified for the Paralympics. Gandhinagar's Parul Parmar for badminton, Bhavina Patel for para table tennis and Sonal Patel for para tennis.

Gujarat's last representative in the games had been hockey player Govindrao Sawant in the 1960 Rome Olympics. Before that, Shankarrao Thorat represented India in wrestling in the 1936 Olympics. (IANS)

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