New Delhi, May 4: Utkarsh Gupta of Delhi was bestowed with the Rajiv Gandhi State Sports Award for his accomplishments in both national and international table tennis events along with a prize purse of Rs. 2 lakh. He received both the trophy and the cheque from Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is also the state’s Education and Sports Minister.

In a function held at the Delhi Secretariat today, the minister impressed upon the students and spoke on the need to excel both in education and sport. He also promised all possible help from the government to improve the standard of Delhi’s sportspersons with incentive and other schemes.

The Delhi boy, pursuing his graduation programme, after making right noises in the Junior category, is doing a great job in Youth section as well. That is what has fetched him all the accolades and a total cash prize of Rs. 4.66 lakh.

The other Delhi paddlers to receive the cheques were Manika Batra, the reigning national champion and who will be making her first Olympic appearance at Rio and Sabhya Virmani. Manika received Rs. 1.44 lakh while Sabhya got Rs. 1.94 lakh. Another Delhi player to benefit from the Delhi government scheme was Olympian Neha Aggarwal who received Rs. 1.84 lakh.