London Olympic silver medalist Vijay Kumar of the Army was felicitated today by Defence Minister A K Antony where he presented the rifle shooter with a cash incentive of Rs 30 lakhs.

Acknowledging Subedar Major Kumar’s consistent good performance in international competitions, Antony said the shooter had been conferred with the Arjuna Award in 2007 along with out-of-turn promotion and other awards and commendations by the Army.

Antony also lauded the contribution of the Armed Forces to scouting and nurturing talent in various sporting disciplines and providing training using the state-of-the-art infrastructure.

“The Defence Minister reposed faith in the Armed forces to produce many more international level sportspersons and hoped the nation will have a richer haul of medals at Rio Olympics in 2016,” Ministry officials said.

The ceremony was attended by Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne and several other senior officers of the Armed Forces and Defence Ministry.

Kumar was promoted to the rank of Subedar Major by the government in a ceremony yesterday and Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh had promised him all help to elevate him to the rank of an officer.

Vijay, who had expressed his displeasure over the delay in getting the promotion soon after the medal ceremony in London Olympics earlier this month, had yesterday clarified that he was wrongly quoted by the media.

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