NEW DELHI: It was a star parade as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) felicitated the Asian Games medallists at an impressive function here on Thursday evening.

Pistol genius Jaspal Rana, who had won three gold and silver apart from equalling the world record in centrefire pistol with a 590 out of 600, was the centre of attraction as he was presented Rs. 7,50,000 and given an out-of-turn promotion.

With ONGC having a hand in eight of the 10 gold medals that India won at Doha, there was a lot of cheer for the athletes in terms of financial rewards and out-of-turn promotions.

Humpy honoured

Koneru Humpy was given Rs. four lakhs for her double gold medal in chess while billiards ace Pankaj Advani, chess super Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran, athletes Chitra K. Soman and Mandeep Kaur, and kabaddi player Manpreet Singh were all given Rs. two lakhs for their golden efforts.

The three silver medallists — athletes Bhupender Singh and P. Shankar, and air pistol shooter Shweta Dhoudhary — were presented Rs. 1,50,000 each.

Those who had participated in the Asian Games like badminton players B. Chetan Anand, Rupesh Kumar and V. Diju, billiards and snooker player Alok Kumar, Moushumi Pal (table tennis), Karan Rastogi (tennis), Tejbir Singh (hockey) and the towering Y. Subba Rao (volleyball) were all given Rs. 25,000.

Three of them, including Karan Rastogi, away at the Chennai Open, were unable to attend the function.

The occasion was also used to honour Olympian Anil Kumar, who was presented Rs. 1,00,000 for his achievements.

"It is a matter pride for us at ONGC that our athletes could account for eight of the 10 gold medals won in the Asian Games.

"You have created more expectations by winning these awards. Keep it up,'' said the Chairman and Managing Director of ONGC, R. S. Sharma, to the medal winners.

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