₹10 lakh cash prize for Olympian Neeraj Chopra’s coach

The State government on Sunday announced a cash reward of ₹10 lakh to Kashinath Naik for his role in coaching Neeraj Chopra, who won a Gold medal for India at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday. The government will also felicitate the Olympic medallists.

While lauding the achievement of Mr. Chopra in securing the first Gold for the country in athletics, Sports and Youth Affairs Minister K.C. Narayana Gowda announced the cash reward to Mr. Naik, who hails from Sirsi in Uttara Kannada district. Mr. Naik was a Bronze medallist in Javelin throw in the 2010 Commonwealth Games. The Minister said the State government was rewarding Mr. Naik for his role in shaping the Olympic Gold medallist.

He said the State would also felicitate all the medal winners in the Olympics, and a discussion in this regard has been held with Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. Mr. Naik will be felicitated on the occasion. The plan is also to felicitate all the Kannadigas — Aditi Ashok, Srihari Natarajan, and Fouaad Mirza — who took part in the Tokyo Olympics.