Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): As many as 335 athletes from Madhya Pradesh will compete in 26 sports disciplines in the 38th National Games. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate them in Dehradun (Uttarakhand) on January 28.
The disciplines in which athletes from the state will compete include 25 medal sports such as athletics, archery, cycling, basketball, handball, rowing, kayaking canoeing, slalom, yoga, fencing, mallakhamb weightlifting, aquatic, boxing, wrestling, taekwondo, triathlon, wushu, modern pentathlon, squash, gymnastic, men & women hockey, judo, taekwondo, shooting, badminton and kalarippayattu as demo sport.
Sports and youth welfare minister Vishvas Sarang told media persons on Friday that winners of gold, silver and bronze medals from the state received prize money of Rs 5 lakh, Rs 3.20 lakh and Rs 2.40 lakh respectively in the last National Games. “This time, it has been increased to Rs 6 lakh (gold), Rs 4 lakh (silver) and Rs 3 lakh (bronze),” he added.
Hockey contingent largest
The largest contingent will be of hockey with 32 players. Athletics has 28 and rowing and wushu has 23 players each. Olympians from Madhya Pradesh Vivek Sagar and Aishwarya Pratap Singh will also participate. Players will be offered travel fare, general kit, official kit, modern sports equipment and excellent infrastructure.
Sports science support is also being provided to improve players’ performance. This includes physio strength and conditioning experts, nutrition, sports psychologist, physiotherapist and video analysers.
