By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: The Indian men’s and women’s hockey teams, who achieved historic gold medals at the Asian Games 2026 held in Japan and qualified for the upcoming 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, have been accorded a grand felicitation.
At this felicitation ceremony held at Kalinga Stadium, Chief Minister Shri Mohan Charan Majhi, as the chief guest, commended the players, coaches, and support staff of both victorious teams and presented them with cash reward amounts. On behalf of the Odisha government, a cash reward of 11 lakh rupees has been provided to each player of both the men’s and women’s hockey teams for this success, while each support staff member has been given a reward amount of 5.5 lakh rupees.
In total, 2.75 crore rupees have been provided for the Indian men’s hockey team and support staff, and 2.86 crore rupees for the women’s hockey team. Both the men’s and women’s teams have been awarded 5.61 crore rupees from Odisha. In addition, Indian team Odia players Amit Rohidas, Silanand Lakra, and Sunelita Toppo have been provided with a special reward amount of 20 lakh rupees each for their exceptional contributions.
Indian women’s team captain Salima Tete says, “I would like to thank the Odisha government for always welcoming and supporting us whenever we win medals, which motivates us to do better. As a team, we were determined to win this time, as it was a great opportunity to directly qualify for LA. China was our main challenger, and we achieved our goal of defeating them, just as we had planned.”
