President Patil presents awards to Vijender, Sushil

New Delhi, Aug 26 (UNI) President Pratibha Devisingh Patil today presented a silver plaque and a Rashtrapati Bhavan medal to Olympic heroes Vijender Singh and Sushil Kumar who called on her on their return from Beijing.

The President said the youth of the country would be encouraged by the performance of the two Olympic medal winning sportspersons.

Indian Olympic Association President Suresh Kalmadi, Sports Minister M S Gill, boxer Akhil Kumar, who narrowly missed a medal, and the Presidents of the boxing and wrestling federations were also present.

Mr Kalmadi said Olympic medals were more important than cricket trophies, while Mr Gill said his ministry would allocate more funds for training sportspersons.

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