The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had earlier announced that it would honour the winners from the Tokyo Olympic Games with mementoes and cash prizes in a ceremony. But that could not happen mainly due to pandemics. So, ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, the BCCI finally felicitated three of the Olympic winners at the Wankhede Stadium before the start of the season opener.
The Olympics gold medalist Neeraj Chopra received a reward of INR 1 Crore while the boxer Lovlia Borgohain, the bronze medalist in Tokyo Olympics 2020, got a sum of INR 25 lakhs. The men’s hockey team also got INR 1 Crore for securing bronze in the global sporting event. Manpreet Singh, the captain, received the cheque from BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on behalf of the squad.
The gold medal won by Neeraj Chopra for throwing javelin to a distance of 87.58 meters was India’s only gold at the event last year. It was also India’s second individual gold medal in history after the one won by Abhinav Bindra in shooting in 2008. It was also India’s first-ever gold in the track and field event.
For men’s hockey, the bronze was the first in the Olympics in 41 years since 1980. Overall, the Indian Olympic contingent won a record number of seven medals in the Tokyo Olympics - one gold, two silvers, and four bronze medals.
Meanwhile, in the curtain-raiser affair, Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings met. Led by Shreyas Iyer, KKR snapped the first win of the season after restricting CSK to 131/5 and chasing the total down by six wickets and nine deliveries in hand.