Haryana: Shooter Manu Bhaker asks sports minister if cash prize was just a ‘jumla’, he snubs her

Shooter Manu Bhaker, a 16 years old gold medalist in the Youth Olympic Games tweeted about a sudden change in the promised cash rewards for her win and questions Haryana sports minister Anil Vij.

She posted a series of screenshots of Anil Vij’s tweet in which he promises a cash reward of ₹2cr to the young shooter on behalf of the state government.

"Sir Please confirm if it is correct... Or just Jumla(sic)," Bhaker wrote on Twitter.

"Congratulations to Manu Bhaker for winning shooting gold in Youth Olympics. Haryana government will give a cash prize of ₹2 crore to Manu Bhaker on her achievement. Previous governments used to pay ₹10 lakh," tweeted Anil Vij after Bhaker had become the first Indian shooter to win a gold at the Youth Olympics. had written in a series of tweets moments after Bhaker became the first Indian shooter to win a Youth Olympics gold.

The pistol shooter, who hails from Goria village in Jhajjar, had earlier lashed out at the Haryana government, stating that someone was playing games with the cash prize money that had been allotted to the Youth Olympic medal winners from the state.

Bhaker's father Ram Kishan Bhaker, who is a chief engineer in the Merchant Navy, also said that such moves could break the athletes morale.

"Far from motivating sportspersons, such moves will break their morale. She is yet to get the promised cash award and now they have revised the policy again. I really hope enough thought is given before they finalise something. Otherwise, it can be detrimental to an athlete's career," Bhaker senior told PTI.Earlier in the day, Manu Bhaker lashed out at the Haryana government, saying someone in the government has been playing games with the prize money that was announced for the Youth Olympics medal winners from the state.

She had also shared Yogeshwar Dutt’s old tweet in which he posted about the Haryana government’s announcement to athletes asking them to deposit one-thirds of their income to the state coffers in 2018.

Anil Vij tweeted in response to Bhaker’s claims stating that she should have approached the sports department first before posting it on social media.

“Manu Bhaker should have first confirmed it from the Sports Deptt. before going to public domain. It is disgusting to denounce a State Govt 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 (sic),” he said.

According to the Haryana government’s changed policy, ₹2 crore was marked for Gold medal winners, ₹1.25 crore was marked for Silver medal winners and ₹80 lakhs for Bronze medal winners. This came into effect before the Youth Olympics. Prior to this order YOG medallists were allotted ₹10 lakhs, ₹7.5 lakhs and ₹5 lakhs in descending order.

But the government revised the policy again last December and reduced the amount further down to ₹ 1 crore for gold, ₹65 lakhs for silver and ₹40 lakhs for bronze medalists.

Bhaker won the Youth Olympics gold in the 10m air pistol event in Buenos Aires on October 10. She had also shot 236.5 in the eight-woman final to create history.

Bhaker won the Commonwealth Games gold medal in the Gold Coast, a mere month after winning the 10m air pistol individual and team events at the ISSF World Cup in Guadalajara.