OREANDA-NEWS. July 25, 2012. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), the Principal Sponsor of the Indian Contingent to London Olympics 2012, will give Rs 25 lakhs to each Indian Olympian who secures a Gold medal for the country. Announcing this at an Official Send-off event organized by ONGC at New Delhi on 15th July 2012, ONGC CMD Mr. Sudhir Vasudeva said that this applies to not only ONGC Olympians, but to all Indian Olympians. “ONGC would give Rs 15 lakhs for Silver and Rs 10 Lakhs for Bronze”.

Talking about the whole-hearted support extended by ONGC to the cause of Indian Sports, Mr. Vasudeva said that ONGC is proud to be contributing 20 per cent of the 81-member Olympics Contingent, which is the highest among Indian corporates.

ONGC CMD Sudhir Vasudeva (Third from left) and Director (HR) K S Jamestin (Second from Right) with a section of the Indian Olympics contingent at the Official Send-off organized by ONGC at New Delhi on 15th July 2012

A warm send-off function was organized by ONGC at New Delhi on 15th July 2012, wishing the Olympians all the best for bringing glory to Team India in the biggest sporting extravaganza on Earth, commencing from 27th July. This was chaired by the Union Minister of Sports Mr Ajay Maken. Indian Olympics Association Acting President Mr. V K Malhotra also attended the send-off.

This is the biggest Indian Contingent (81 member) that has qualified for the Olympics. ONGC is sending the largest contingent of 16 players to the London Olympics 2012; 13 players for the main London Olympics 2012 and 3 for Paralympics.

ONGC - the World’s Number 2 Exploration & Production Company (Platts 2011) - is not only striving hard for the energy security of India, but is also fuelling India’s dreams in the London Olympics 2012. ONGC, a Maharatna PSU, has always been in the forefront of promoting sports in India. Under ONGC’s sports policy, promising and hidden sports talent in the country has been identified in the last two decades, who have been nurtured to take up challenges at the national and international levels.

ONGC has, on its rolls, 185 sportspersons, 63 of them are current international level achievers, while 64 are past internationals and the remaining are national level achievers. Among the international level achievers both past and present includes 17 National Awardees (1 = Khel Ratna, 2 = Padma Shri, 14 = Arjun Awardees).