UP honours National Games medallists

Lucknow, Feb 24 (UNI) Uttar Pradesh Olympic Association (UPOA) today rewarded athletes from the state for topping the medal tally in the just concluded National Games in Guwahati with their best show ever.

Winner of the Gold, Silver and Bronze medallists were honoured with the cash prizes of Rs 3,000, 2,000 and 1,000 respectively.

Athletes from the state ended with 77 medals -- 25 Gold, 18 Silver and 34 Bronze -- in Guwahati to better their previous best which had come in 2001 when Punjab hosted the Games. UP had bagged 15 Gold, 13 Silver and 18 Bronze medals in that edition of the event.

Taking a dig at the state government UPOA secretary Anandeshwar Pandey said, ''Notwithstanding non-cooperation from the state government over the enactment of the Sports Act, the UPOA, under the guidance of President Dr Akhilesh Das, managed the formalities of participating the state team in the National Games.'' Mr Pandey rued that had the UP government extended its cooperation, many more players would have been able to bring laurel to the state.

''Now our main aim is to get back the 2009 National Games, which was earlier allotted to UP and to hold some events of the forthcoming 2010 Commonwealth Games in East Delhi and 2114 Asian games in Noida,'' he said.

UNI