A file image of Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.
Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore has sanctioned financial assistance of Rs. 5 lakhs to former archer Ashok Soren after it came to light that he had been working as a daily wage labourer to sustain himself.
"The financial assistance has been given from Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay National Welfare Fund for Sportspersons (PDUNWFS). Shri Soren is currently living in Jamshedpur in indigent conditions," said the Sports Ministry in a release.
It was reported that Soren was working as a labourer under the government's rural employment guarantee scheme.
The 28-year-old Jamshedpur-based former archer had won two gold medals at the 2008 South Asian Games.
The Ministry had earlier approved a similar assistance for Arjuna awardee archer Limba Ram, who is suffering from a neurogenerative disease.
Earlier this month, a grant of Rs. 5 lakhs was also cleared for ailing archer Gohela Boro.
