ASSAM | Financial assistance to 16 sport stars

In a bid to encourage the sportstars of Assam, the Sports & Youth welfare department, Assam on Friday announced financial assistance to a total of 16 sportspersons of the state from different disciplines in the year 2019-20.

The 12^th SouthAsian Games gold medallists Shiva Thapa in Boxing, Hasina Begum in Kabaddi,Manash Jyoti Changmai in Archery and Jayanta Talukdar in Archery will receivefinancial assistance of Rs 10 lakh each. Silver medallists of the tournamentVinit Rai (Football) and Halicharan Narzary (Football) will receive Rs 5 lakheach while the bronze medallist Sabita Ramchiary (Taekwondo) will receive anamount of Rs 3 lakh.

The 13^th Asian Lawn Bowl Championship silver medallists MridulBorgohain and Anand Narzary will receive an amount of Rs 3 lakh each while thebronze medallists Bangita Hazarika, Tania Choudhury and Nayan Moni Saikia willreceive Rs 2 lakh each. The championship was held in Xinxiang in China.

The government announced Rs 1lakh as financial assistance to the Asian Weightlifting Championship bronzemedallists Surajit Changmai and Sidhant Gogoi while Rs 1.5 lakh to SpecialOlympic World Games, 2019 Silver medallist Abhishek Gogoi and Rs 1 lakh to AnyatamRajkumar, who won Silver medal in the 1^st NationalLevel Swimming Competition for Autistic and Down Syndrome Children.

Sidhant Gogoi won gold inWeightlifting while Ashmita Chaliha in Badminton, Sivangi Sharma in Swimming,Rodali Baruah in Taekwondo, Harsha Singha in Taekwondo and Kabira Devi inFencing at the 13^th AsianGames held in Nepal. Kabira also won bronze in fencing.