Kolkata: Vehemently denying that he has ever misbehaved with CWG gold medallist Sukhen Dey, West Bengal sports minister Madan Mitra today announced a cash award of Rs 5 lakh for the weightlifter, who claimed that he was “hurt” by the attitude of the sports minister.
“I came to know from media reports that Sukhen Dey said I had refused to recognize him and misbehaved with him when he called me sometime back. I in my entire life I have never spoken to any athlete or person named Sukhen Dey. I think there has been some miscommunication,” Mitra told PTI here today reacting to some local media reports.
“I wish good luck to Sukhen Dey. We will give him Rs five lakh from the sports department so that he can prepare in a much better way for the Asian games. We will provide him all sorts of help,” Mitra told PTI.
Dey has also complained about the state's apathy towards his achievements as he had won a silver medal in last Commonwealth Games too.
“I can't speak of 2010 Commonwealth Games as at that time I was neither the sports minister nor was there a Trinamool Congress government in the state. I think there has been some misunderstanding and miscommunication. I would meet him once he comes back from the Commonwealth Games,” Mitra said.
Dey, who hails from Howrah district of the state, won the Gold in the men's 56kg category by lifting a total of 248 kg (109ꢃ) in the Commonwealth Games at Glasgow yesterday.
