Athletes preparing for Tokyo Olympics, Commonwealth, Asian Games to get pocket allowance

The Government on Friday announced that 152 Indian athletes preparing for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, 2018 Commonwealth Games and 2018 Asian Games will get a pocket allowance of Rs. 50, 000 per month.

Newly appointed Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore made the announcement on Friday.

"We are happy to announce that the ministry of sports has considered an out of pocket allowance for 152 athletes, these are our top athletes. All the training expenses will be taken care of and all their training programs will be taken care of," Rathore said.

"This is just purely an out of pocket allowance so that whatever minor expenditures happen, they (athletes) have this money readily available to them. And they can focus on their training," he added.

Rathore further said that he was happy that the sports ministry and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) were now thinking in terms of 'athlete first'.

After replacing Vijay Goel as the Sports Minister, the Olympic silver medallist had already made it clear he will focus on providing sportspersons across the country both 'suvidha and sammaan' (facilities and respect) so that they can improve their game and win laurels for the nation.

"We will focus on suvidha and sammaan. (We want to make sure that sportspersons get facilities as well as respect). We want to create an environment where they can improve their game," Rathore told ANI.