ONGC announces Rs 25 lakh for London Olympic gold medallists

New Delhi: The ONGC on Sunday announced a cash bonanza for players who will win medals at the London Olympics with gold medal winners to get Rs 25 lakh while silver and bronze medallist will get Rs 15 and Rs 10 lakh respectively.

"We have decided to give Rs 25, Rs 15 and Rs 10 lakh to gold, silver and bronze medallists, irrespective of whether they are the employees of ONGC or not," said an ONGC official. Out of the total 81 athletes who have qualified for the Games, 16 are ONGC (Oil and Natural gas Corporation Limited) employees. The company today also announced an amount of Rs 3 lakh each for those 16 players who have made it to the London Games. ONGC, the principal sponsor of the Indian Contingent for the upcoming Olympics, today accorded a warm send-off to the Olympians, including six archers -- Jayant Talukdar, Rahul Banerjee, Tarundeep Rai, Deepika Kumari, Laishram Bombayla Devi and Chekrovolu Swuro -- and two badminton players in Ashwini Ponapaa and V Diju. PTI