Money pours for the football players too

Immediately after Abhinav Bindra had given India reasons to celebrate, its soccer players, too, struck gold. And as it was in the case of Bindra, money simply poured in, for the India football team after they won the AFC Challenge Cup.
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) and sports broadcaster, ESPN, rewarded the winners with Rs 15 lakh each. The cash award was shared by 23 players, head coach and six support staff.
Cash incentives are fast becoming an effective tool to promote sports in India. The sector is now almost totally in the hands of private sector. Yet, the government matters.
The Sports Ministry is also expected to announce incentives for the players and the support staff. Sports Minister, M.S. Gill, is scheduled to meets captain Baichung Bhutia and yesterday's hat-trick man Sunil Chhetri, soon.

More money to come
AIFF President Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi personally met the players this morning and congratulated them for the "historic win." This took the country to 2011 Asian Cup after 24 years. Dasmunshi also presented each of the team members, a cheque of Rs 50,000.
Head coach Bob Houghton was handed a Rs 1 lakh cheque. The six other support staff (two assistant coaches, one goalkeeper coach, team manager, a doctor and a physio) were also given Rs 50,000 each. This brought the total sum to Rs 15.5 lakh.
India defeated defending champions Tajikistan by a convincing 4-1 margin to win their first major title since the Nehru Cup win in August last year.