Rajeev Mehta requests better facilities and athletes allowance

The Indian contingent did remarkably well at the recently concluded Youth Olympics finishing with a total of 13 medals which included three gold, nine silver and one bronze medal. All thanks to the increased medal count India also improved its ranking on the medal table finishing at their best ever position of 17th place. Rajeev Mehta was speaking at the felicitation ceremony for the medal winners which was attended by Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President Narinder Batra, General Secretary Rajeev Mehta, sports minister Rajyavardhan Rathore and sports secretary Rahul Bhatnagar among others.

“Often when we see officials travel business class for international events and I find athletes travelling economy. I feel embarrassed. I would request ministry to consider business class journey for any destination that takes more than three hours,” Mehta said in presence Rathore and sports secretary Rahul Bhatnagar.

“I can assure if we take care of these facilities and increase dietary supplement allowance from Rs 450 to Rs 1000, you will see results coming. Hope during the next event at SAI, the sports minister will give us some assurance."

Guiding the young athletes who attended the event to be felicitated and to also receive the prize money for their performances Mehta suggested them to focus on the game and make it big. The cash prize for the gold, silver and bronze medal winners were 2 lakhs, 1.5 lakhs and 1 lakh respectively.

“Your focus should be on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. I can give you an example of Junior World Cup winning India players. We thought they will play for senior team but some of them lost focus. One even made a film on Facebook.

“Now these boys are not even in 40 probables in senior team and won’t play for India. So I want you people to remain focussed on your goal,” Batra said.

On the other hand, Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore emphasised on the importance of the young players for the upcoming Olympics and other big tournaments.

“The Prime Minister met you all in the morning from his busy schedule which shows how important you people are. We have already put a process in place not just for 2020 Tokyo but also for 2024 Games,” Rathore said.