Minister, shooter lock horns over cash reward

A Twitter spat has erupted between Haryana sports minister Anil Vij and shooter Manu Bhaker over a cash reward promise.

The war of words between the duo started after the 16-year-old athlete took to Twitter questioning Vij about the ₹ 2 crore cash reward, the latter had promised after she won a gold medal at the 2018 Youth Olympics at Argentina.

Bhaker, citing a state government's notification that mentioned the award money for gold medal winners' as ₹ 1 crore, tweeted, "Someone in Haryana is really playing with Youth Olympic games cash prize!!!!! @narendramodi @mlkhattar @anilvijminister @Ra_THORe @AshokKhemka_IAS ... Is it really for encouraging or disheartening players ...... Please ....Let me play ...".

The notification on "Cash awards to sportspersons in individual events" was issued by Haryana's sports and youth affairs department on December 27.

She also posted a couple of screenshots of Vij's tweets where he had promised a cash reward of ₹ 2 crore to the shooter asking him, "if it is correct or just a Jumla (false promise)."

The Haryana sports minister, however, rebuffed Bhaker's allegations and said that she should have first confirmed it from the Sports Department before going to the public domain.

"Bhaker should have first confirmed it from the Sports Deptartment before going to the public domain. It is disgusting to denounce a State Government which is giving highest awards in the country. Bhaker will will will get ₹ 2 crores as tweeted by me and as per notification at that time," Vij wrote.

He further said that Bhaker should feel sorry for creating this controversy. "There should be some sense of discipline in players. Bhaker should feel sorry for creating this controversy. She has a long way to go. She should focus on her game only," he added.

Bhaker, who hails from Goria village in Haryana's Jhajjar, won several gold medals in her maiden World Cup, Commonwealth Games, besides bagging first prize at the Youth Olympics.