Rewards for Performing Indian Sports Persons in Various Fora

      It’s a nice feeling for all Indians that their athletes bagged the maximum no. of medals in their history of the Olympic Games. Certainly, the future Olympic Games for India will get only better – this is a general feeling. It’s good, isn’t it? Collectively, it helps add a sense of pride amongst the citizens and also inspires to start sorting around the mess in and around their daily lives since now we are going to get there. You see, when we win medals and when the world slowly starts looking towards India because of the medals, the other Institutions of the nation, its face, its P.D.S., its health, its education, its hygiene, its human rights record, its law and order machinery, its Police, its “democracy”, its upkeep should present a picture which is worth presenting. So if sports becomes a fulcrum for ‘overall development’, or one of them fulcrums, then so be it, and would it not be so nice?

      Now don’t ask me something like “how are you relating sporting achievements by Indians in international competitions with improvements in the general ‘public distribution system’ of the country”. But I’ll still answer it (and my name is not Basanti)! It’s like this that any sporting achievement will add on to the glory of the country in the global mind and that may trigger or inspire all Indians to set their house in order because of the ‘feel good factor’ because the world is watching. So files will start moving etc. etc. :-) How was that one? It’s a pertinent point, Uncle Mary, note it.

      Thus the Govt. has to reward these achievements. It’s begun to do so is a general understanding and that is fine. Now, in my opinion, if a structure is in place as regards the monetary benefit for the sports person for the corresponding achievement, it would be in the fitness of scheme of things, it would be appropriate. Now, some sort of structure may already be in place (actually I doubt it) but I still propose the following. And I hope I get a medal (oh?..) for developing and proposing this Chart and providing the explanation below.

Lightening Energy Chart for ‘Rewards for Performing Indian Sports Persons in Various Fora’

	Olympic Games	World Championships	Asian Games	Asian Championships	National Games	National Championships
In Rupees
1st Gold Medal	2,00,00,000	2,00,00,000	40,00,000	40,00,000	8,00,000	8,00,000
2nd Silver Medal	1,50,00,000	1,50,00,000	30,00,000	30,00,000	6,00,000	6,00,000
3rd Bronze Medal	1,00,00,000	1,00,00,000	20,00,000	20,00,000	4,00,000	4,00,000
4th Position (Akin to losing semi finalist)	25,00,000	25,00,000	5,00,000	5,00,000	1,00,000	1,00,000
5th Position	20,83,333.33	20,83,333.33	4,16,666.67	4,16,666.67	83,333.33	83,333.33
6th Position	16,66,666.67	16,66,666.67	3,33,333.33	3,33,333.33	66,666.67	66,666.67
7th Position	12,50,000	12,50,000	2,50,000	2,50,000	50,000	50,000
8th Position (Akin to losing quarter finalist)	8,33,333.33	8,33,333.33	1,66,666.67	1,66,666.67	33,333.33	33,333.33
9th Position	7,50,000	7,50,000	1,50,000	1,50,000	30,000	30,000
10th Position	6,66,666.67	6,66,666.67	1,33,333.33	1,33,333.33	26,666.67	26,666.67
11th Position	5,83,333.33	5,83,333.33	1,16,666.67	1,16,666.67	23,333.33	23,333.33
12th Position	5,00,000	5,00,000	1,00,000	1,00,000	20,000	20,000
13th Position	4,16,666.67	4,16,666.67	83,333.33	83,333.33	16,666.67	16,666.67
14th Position	3,33,333.33	3,33,333.33	66,666.67	66,666.67	13,333.33	13,333.33
15th Position	2,50,000	2,50,000	50,000	50,000	10,000	10,000
16th Position	1,66,666.67	1,66,666.67	33,333.33	33,333.33	6,666.67	6,666.67

      This is how I have arrived at the figures. These are on today’s rates. A sports person earns a Bronze Medal in Olympics. He / she deserves Rs. 1 Crore (let’s say) prize money from the Central Govt. It’s Olympics. Bronze Medal is not a mean achievement. The Silver Medallist gets more simply because of finishing higher. Simply doubling 1 to 2 Crores may be a little awkward and increases the distance disproportionately and seems a little inappropriate and seems unfair ... Increase of half of 1 Crore seems o.k. Increase of a quarter of 1 Crore may again not be o.k. since at that level (the podium), there is a difference which is considerable in terms of achievement. So increase of half of 1 Crore is o.k. Therefore, Silver Medallist gets Rs. 1.5 Crore from the Central Govt. The Gold Medallist gets upwards of Rs. 1.5 Crore with the same absolute differential figure being added. So the Gold Medallist gets Rs. 2 Crores. So this takes care of the podium finishers.

      A sports person not making it to the podium and finishing 4th also deserves. However, podium is podium. Therefore, 4th place finisher gets not half of 1 Crore deducted making the figure 50 Lakhs but gets 25% of the 3rd place finisher reward money. This takes into account not only the participation but the distance which the sports person travelled from scratch ‘in the quest’, and also that well, the podium finish was not achieved. But the sportsperson reached the (semi final in most cases and also for the sake of explanation) last four stage. So, the amount is Rs. 25 Lakhs.

      The last four stage has been taken care of. For the sake of explanation, semi final finishes have been taken care of. Now how does one decide about the other place finishes? I’ve considered the ‘stages’ for that purpose. The semi final is taken care of. Now, quarter final stage will be dealt with and even the prequarter final stage. I worked out how it would be if the subsequent finishes receive an amount which is half of the amount of the position or place immediately upwards to it. That way (to cut it short), the losing quarter finalist (reached last 8 stage and finished 8th also in this case for the sake of explanation) receives Rs. 1,56,250/-. It’s Olympics. This figure is low. And the losing prequarter finalist (reached last 16 stage and finished 16th also in this case for the sake of explanation) receives Rs. 610.35 (Rupees Six Hundred Ten And Paise Thirty Five). True, the position is 16 (it’s low), but then it’s the Olympics. This figure is insulting. Then I devised another strategy. Now, consider that I am sitting at home and am not in the official policy making of sports in India nor have I been deputed ‘specially’ for the task, but at times I enjoy indulging in such “intellectual” workouts, strategies, all by myself, and all to myself. But then it’s also heartening that I can share it with you sporty folks. And if it helps the babus of our bureaucracy, then I am going to be absolutely delighted. Chalo yaar, main kaam aayaa. ::--)).

      Hmm, so following is that alternate strategy or method. It’s taken a cue from the system which emerged from the figures set for 3rd, 2nd and 1st place finish. Bronze medal winner received a figure (B). The Silver Medallist got that figure plus the half of it. The Gold Medallist got the same figure (B) plus the half of it and again the half of it. So it became twice of B.

      So, as described earlier, 5th to 8th becomes one Batch. And 9 to 16 becomes the next batch. Now, take out your calculators, pen , paper.

Position	Figure or Amount in Rupees
8 th	x
7 th	x + x/2
6 th	x + 2(x/2) = 2x
5 th	x + 3(x/2)
4 th	x + 4(x/2) = x + 2x = 3x

      And the 4th place finish figure is Rs. 25,00,000/-. Therefore, x=Rs. 8,33,333.33 (Rupees Eight Lakhs Thirty Three Thousand Three Hundred Thirty Three and Paise Thirty Three only). Now, this seems a little high but the sports person is competing in Olympics and training and hard work work must have been gone through by the sports person. 5th, 6th and 7th position amounts are in the chart. Now, in cases where there is no competition for 5th to 8th places, the 8th place amount will be considered. So you are an Olympic losing quarter finalist (finished 8th), you get Rs. 8,33,333.33. You are an Olympic losing semi finalist (finished 4th), you get Rs. 25,00,000/-.

      Now at this stage one might wonder if it’s not appropriate to simpy half the figure for position 8 to Rs. 12,50,000/- and further half it for position 16 (losing prequarer finalist for the sake of explanation) to Rs. 6,25,000/- and then further half it to Rs. 3,12,500/- for position 32. Yes, this can be done and the intervening finishes amount can be arrived at. However, I am not too sure about this. That might start looking like .. like what?.. not exactly a casino but too capitalist (is that the right word here?), too ‘petty trader like’ .. I don’t have the right word. If you have, you can provide it in the comments below. Remember, rewards in money are being given as appreciation and not to render Olympic participation or sports participation as lucrative money making machine (edit this statement for me somebody).

      So, we’ll carry on with the earlier method. Next batch – position 9 to 16.

Position	Figure or Amount in Rupees
16 th	y
15 th	y + y/2
14 th	y + 2(y/2) = 2y
13 th	y + 3(y/2)
12 th	y + 4(y/2) = y + 2y = 3y
11 th	y + 5(y/2)
10 th	4y
9 th	y + 7(y/2)
8 th	5y

      Therefore, x=5y and therefore, y=1,66,666.66.

      8th place finish amount is Rs. 8,33,333.33 and 16th place finish amount is Rs. 1,66,666.67 (Rupees One Lakh Sixty Six Thousand Six Hundred Sixty Six and Paise Sixty Seven). In cases where there is no competition for 9th to 16th places, the 16th place amount will be considered. So you are an Olympic losing prequarter finalist (finished 16th), you get Rs. 1,66,666.67. You are an Olympic losing quarter finalist, you get Rs. 8,33,333.33.

      And now the next batch: position 17 to 32.

      I thought that the ‘casino method’ (misnomer) should be applied now, for more than one reason but then I thought that, doesn’t matter, let’s continue with this presently ongoing method for this batch (position 17 to 32) and for position 33 to 64, the casino method will be applied. In fact, for Olympics, I’ll consider the casino method for position 17 to 32. For World Championships, the following will be considered. The reason is that in any sports discipline World Championship, the no. of competitions is more than the Olympics for the same discipline. So for Olympics there is a change in the method now.

      Ok, the next batch: position 17 to 32

Position	Figure or Amount in Rupees
32 nd	z
31 st	z + z/2
30 th	z + 2(z/2) = 2z
29 th	z + 3(z/2)
28 th	z + 4(z/2) = z + 2z = 3z
27 th	z + 5(z/2)
26 th	z + 6(z/2) = 4z
25 th	z + 7(z/2)
24 th	z + 8(z/2) = 5z
23 rd	z + 9(z/2)
22 nd	z + 5z = 6z
21 st	z +11(z/2)
20 th	z + 6z = 7z
19 th	z + 13(z/2)
18 th	z + 7z = 8z
17 th	z + 15(z/2)
16 th	z + 8z = 9z

      Therefore, y = 9z and therefore, z = 18,518.518.

      16 th place finish amount is Rs. 1,66,666.67 and 32nd place finish amount is Rs. 18,518.52 (Rupees Eighteen Thousand Five Hundred Eighteen And Paise Fifty Two only). Now, this is for the World Championships of a sports discipline. And in those cases of the same where there is no competition for the 17th to 32nd places, the 32nd place amount wll be considered. So you are a World Championship 32nd place finisher, you get Rs. 18,518.52 and you are a World Championship losing prequarter finalist, you get Rs. 1,66,666.67. And for the same batch 17 to 32, the figures for Olympics will be calculated thus:

Finished 16th:                                figure is 1,66,666.67

Finished 17th to 32nd anywhere: figure is 18,518.52

      The above awards are for single person event. In case of doubles, the amount shall be multiplied by 1.5 and then divided in two. So a doubles player achieving a position gets 75% of the corresponding figure in the Chart. In case of team participation, every player of the team gets 25% of the amount in the Chart. Thus, for example, the entire Hockey Team will get in total an amount of money which is four times the corresponding figure in the chart. It’s considered here that the Hockey Team has 16 players. Likewise it shall be for other team sports as well, of course.

      In team sports, it has been considered that every player’s effort has to be accounted for, while at the same time, it is a team sport.

      For Athletics and Water Sports Relays, the method will be as for Team Sports (every player gets 25% of the corresponding amount in the Chart). So 4 x 400 m relay team in total gets an amount of money which is one time the corresponding figure in the Chart. 4 playersx 25% = 1. The moment the no. players in the events is more than 3, 25% of the figure in the Chart will be bisbursed to each player. If it is 2, it will be 75%, if it is 3 even then it will be 75%. This means that the entire Archery Team, e.g., will get in total an amount which is 2.25 times the corresponding figure in the Chart.

      Now, what about the Asian Games and the specific sports Asian Championships?

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Still working, check back after a week. :-)