CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan with Vivek
Bhopal: Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday announced that government would fulfill, Tokyo Olympic bronze medal winning hockey team member Vivek Sagar's dream of gifting a concrete house to his parents. Speaking at a felicitation function organized at Minto Hall, Chouhan said that Sagar had shared his dream of building a concrete house for his parents from sports award money with him. "Now MP government will fulfill his dreams," he declared. The state government also gave a cheque of Rs 1 crore to Sagar for bringing home a medal from the Tokyo Olympics. Nilakantha Sharma, who trained at MP Men's Hockey Academy, also was felicitated. He, however, could not attend the event as he was in his home state Manipur. Chouhan also honoured assistant coach of winning hockey team, Shivendra Singh, and promised to award him with a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh. Olympic shooter Aishwarya Pratap Singh too received Rs 10 lakh. CM also honoured Vivek's former coach Ashok Dhyan Chand and his parents Rohit Prasad and Kamala Devi.
Revival of a lost game: CM
"Determination, passion, zeal and resolution can make anything possible. The Indian Hockey team has not only brought home an Olympic medal, but has also revived the game. Gone are the days when we had to say that we used to be the best in Hockey. Our players have proved that we still are. We will not let any infrastructure-shortage hinder the progress of our players. MP has given and will continue to give more international players who would bring home laurels."