LUCKNOW, July 22 -- For yet another time, the state government will offer big money as well as jobs to all eight athletes from Uttar Pradesh who will be participating in the upcoming Commonwealth Games scheduled to be held from July 23 to August 2 at Glasgow in Scotland. The eight athletes are: Olympians Parul Chaudhary (women's 3,000m steeplechase, 5,000m), Priyanka Goswami (women's 10,000m race walk), Neeru Pathak (mixed 4x400m relay), Gulveer Singh (men's 5,000m, 10,000m), Rohit Yadav (men's javelin throw), Asmita Dey (48 kg women's judo), Shreyansh Trivedi (men's para athletics) and Sagar Thayat (men's para athletics). As per the provisions, gold medal winners in the individual events, if any, would get Rs 1.5 crore, whereas silver and bronze medallists would get Rs 75 lakh and Rs 50 lakh respectively. This cash award will remain the same for top three finishers even in the team events. Even if no one wins, they all will get Rs 5 lakh each as consolation award. At the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, eight of the 14 Uttar Pradesh athletes won four silver and four bronze medals. Overall, India finished with 61 medals, including 22 gold, 16 silver and 23 bronze, despite the absence of shooting, the country's most successful sport in Commonwealth Games history. The medallists from Uttar Pradesh at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games included Vijay Kumar Yadav (bronze, men's 60kg judo), Divya Kakran (bronze, women's 68kg freestyle, wrestling), Priyanka Goswami (silver, women's 10000m race walk), Vandana Katariya (bronze, women's hockey), Annu Rani (bronze, women's javelin throw), Deepti Sharma (silver, women's cricket team), Meghana Singh (silver, cricket team) and Lalit Kumar Upadhyay (silver, men's hockey team). Others from Uttar Pradesh like Seema Punia (discus throw), Sarita Romit Singh (hammer throw), Rohit Yadav (javelin throw), Poonam Yadav (weightlifting), Purnima Pandey (weightlifting) and Vishwanath Yadav (swimming) were also part of the Indian contingent at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and were given Rs 5 lakh each as consolation awards. For race walker Priyanka Goswami and javelin thrower Rohit Yadav, this would be their second CWG participation on behalf of Uttar Pradesh. "Yes, as per the provisions made by the state government, medal-winning athletes at the CWG 2026 will be given cash awards as well as jobs," Uttar Pradesh's director of sports, RP Singh, said on Tuesday. "Even in the past, many of our medal-winning athletes at the Asian and the Commonwealth Games like Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Divya Kakran, Vijay Kumar Yadav, Parul Chaudhary, Rinku Singh and Deepti Sharma etc have been appointed to gazetted officers' posts in different departments of the state government," he added. "The UP government is committed to the betterment of sports and sportspersons and is extending all its support to the athletes in the state," Singh said....