Five sportspersons from Manipur, who part of the Indian team for the Tokyo Olympics, were felicitated by the State government on Saturday.
The Olympians, felicitated at the Khuman Lampak Sports Complex, were Mary Kom, Shushila Likmabam, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, S. Mirabai Chanu and S. Nilakanta.
Chief Minister N. Biren handed over appointment letters and financial incentives to three of them. Two of them had already been appointed. Mr. Biren handed over an appointment letter for the post of Deputy Director of Sports to Mr. Nilakanta and the post of Assistant Director in the same Department to Ms. Likmabam. Ms. Pukhrambam was given the post of Inspector of Police.
As announced earlier, Mr. Biren handed over a cheque of ₹75 lakh to Mr. Nilakanta. Ms. Kom, Ms. Likmabam and Ms. Pukhrambam were given ₹25 lakh each.
Ms. Chanu, who had bagged a silver medal, had been given ₹1 crore recently, along with an appointment letter as an Additional Superintendent of Police (Sports).
The other sportspersons were honoured with gifts from the State government.
Mr. Biren said people were overjoyed when Ms. Kom was seen carrying the Indian flag during the march-past in Tokyo. The Olympic Park, which was under construction, would be completed by November and would be handed over to the sportspersons, he added.
Those who were present during the function also stood in silence for a minute to pay their respects to Ngangom Dinku, an international boxer who had died recently due to cancer.
