Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda with CWG medalists in Sonipat. Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda with CWG medalists in Sonipat.

In an embarrassing case of carelessness, two Commonwealth Games participants were handed over empty envelopes by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda during a felicitation ceremony on Friday.

Organised at the Rajiv Gandhi Education City in Sonepat, Hooda distributed cheques worth Rs 13.72 crore to various state players who represented the country at the Games.

Athlete Jaideep Singh and swimmer Prashant were shocked when they opened their envelopes to find nothing inside. "I stood fourth in discuss throw at CWG. I was deeply hurt after opening the envelope. The government should not treat sports-persons like this," Jaideep said.

While Jaideep received the envelope himself at the event, Prashant's reward, in his absence, was received by Haryana Paralympic Association general secretary Giriraj Singh.

"Though Prashant and Jaideep had not won any medal in Commonwealth games, their names were included at the last minute in the participant category for a cash reward of Rs 5 lakh each," Giriraj Singh told media-persons.

Giriraj said that names of Prashant and Jaideep were missing from the list that was handed over by the Indian Olympic Association to the Haryana government and the matter was brought to the notice of the sports department by the state paralympic association. Though the department included their names at the last moment, they forgot to put the cheques inside. After realising the mistake, deputy director, awards branch of the sports department, Subhash Sharma assured that the cheques will be sent to the players within 10 days.