Union Sports Minister Jitendra Singh has approved financial assistance of Rs. 60,500 from the National Welfare Fund for Sportspersons to athlete Santhi Soundarajan, who had been stripped of her 2006 Asian Games silver medal after failing a gender test.
“Recently reports have appeared in a section of the media that she is living in indigent circumstances and was working as a daily wager at a brick kiln in Tamil Nadu. Santhi has applied for pursuing a regular National Institute of Sports (NIS) diploma in coaching at the Bengaluru centre of the Sports Authority of India (SAI),” said a Sports Ministry release on Thursday.
“Taking into consideration Santhi’s financial condition, the (financial) assistance has been sanctioned for her to meet the expenditure towards fees, lodging and board and sports kit,” added the release.
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