Bonus for golden Chinese

Beijing, Aug. 26: China’s Olympic gold medallists will each get a cash bonus of 350,000 yuan ($50,000), almost double the amount paid after the 2004 Athens Games, media reports said on Tuesday.

The cash rewards for gold medallists at the 2004 Athens Games was 200,000 yuan each, the Guangzhou Daily reported, citing Xiao Shan, deputy head of the General Administration of Sports as saying.

"That’s but a fraction of what it cost to win each medal," Liu Peng, country’s sports chief, said on Sunday. that average government investment in each gold medal was about 15.7 million yuan a year.

He said the calculation was based on 51 golds that Chinese athletes won during the 2008 Games vis-a-vis the annual government investment of 800 million yuan on sports.

Liu also said the sports sector would get another 800 million yuan each year from sports-oriented lotteries, although 60 per cent of that would go for facilities for the general public, especially farmers.

He said China’s post-Olympics government spending on sports would be unchanged despite the unprecedented gold medal haul. It’s common for Olympic medal winners to get a bonus.

— PTI

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India stun Qatar in round two

New Delhi, Aug 26: India on Tuesday continued with their triumphant campaign in Asian Junior Men Volleyball Championship in Tehran, stunning Qatar 3-0 in the first match of the second round.

Indian spikers, who topped the Group C winning all the matches in the preliminary round, on Tuesday faced tough challenge from their opponent.

But, the Indians put up a gutsy show against their strong opponent and bagged the first two sets with 25-14 scoreline each.

Indians continued with their authority during the third set as well, which they won 25-13 to wrap up the match.

In the next encounter, India would lock horn with Iran on Wednesday.

In another match, Pakistan beat Australia 3-1 in a closely contested.

— PTI