All smiles: Swapnil Kusale, Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh, with former Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi and NRAI Secretary General Sultan Singh.
| Photo Credit: Kamesh Srinivasan
Olympic medallists Manu Bhaker, Swapnil Kusale and Sarabjot Singh were felicitated in a memorable fashion with cash awards and gifts by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) on Friday.
For her stupendous effort of winning two bronze medals in air pistol, the individual and the pairs with Sarabjot, the 22-year-old Manu was presented ₹45 lakh. Sarabjot got his share of ₹15 lakh, while the rifle 3-position medallist Swapnil received ₹30 lakh.
The NRAI was thoughtful in presenting cash awards of ₹5 lakh to the High-Performance Director, Dr. Pierre Beauchamp, apart from coaches Thomas Farnik, Manoj Kumar and Samaresh Jung.
It presented mementos to many other coaches including Ronak Pandit, and the entire set of support staff that had worked with the shooters.
All the shooters who competed in the Olympics and could be present were felicitated. The other Olympic quota winners who missed out on competing in Paris following the selection trials, like Akhil Sheoran, Mehuli Ghosh, and Shriyanka Sadangi were also felicitated for their role in paving the way for the shooters’ 50% haul of the country’s six Olympic medals.
The acting president of NRAI, Kalikesh Singh Deo lauded the shooters for securing a record 21 Olympic quota places and shining bright in Paris.
Special mention was made about Arjun Babuta, the pair of Maheshwari Chauhan and Anantjeet Singh Naruka, who had to endure the heart-breaking fourth-place finish in men’s air rifle and mixed skeet events respectively.
The Chef de Mission, Gagan Narang, Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar and several others including the president of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), Raja Randhir Singh, were present to celebrate the occasion.
The former Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi cheerfully presented most of the awards.
The sponsors Pernod Ricard and Diljeet Titus made it a memorable evening for the fraternity.
The secretary general of NRAI, Sultan Singh said that the inspirational performance of the shooters in Paris would force generations of Indian athletes to raise the bar even higher.
