Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday honoured prominent sports personalities of the state with the Biju Patnaik Award and also gave them a total cash prize of about Rs 2.12 crore.
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Patnaik in a special function held on the occasion of National Sports Day congratulated all the sportspersons, coaches and others linked to the sports activities.
“It is a proud moment for us to honour you all. I am sure the achievements of the sports persons being felicitated today, will motivate more youth to take up sports as a career”, he said.
Noting that sports is an important medium for the development of youth and society, Patnaik said, “We are investing in sports across the state and supporting the sportsperson in their endeavour to achieve excellence.”
Among the sportspersons who won the prestigious Biju Patnaik Award were weightlifter Jhili Dalabehera and shooter Shriyanka Sadangi.
While coach Bishnu Mishra was conferred with the Biju Patnaik Sports award for Excellence in Coaching and received Rs 1 lakh, a citation and a trophy, the Biju Patnaik Award for Excellence in Sports Journalism was conferred to Benudhar Das. He received Rs 50,000, a citation and a trophy.
The Biju Patnaik Award for Lifetime Achievement in Promotion of Sports and Games was given to former Odia International cricketer, Debasis Mohanty. He received Rs 3 lakh, a citation and a trophy.
Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) bagged the Biju Patnaik Sports award for Best Contribution to Sports and Games. Atanu Bhowmick, Director, RSP, received Rs 1 lakh, a citation and a trophy on behalf of the organisation.
Jatani Congress MLA Suresh Routray received an award from the chief minister on behalf of his son Siddhartha Routray, who recently scaled Mt Everest.
For their humanity and selfless act of courage and bravery, the 14-year-old Pratap Tarei and 10- year old Subhashree Rout were conferred with the Biju Patnaik Bravery Award. They received Rs 1 lakh each, a citation and a silver medal from the Chief Minister.
On this occasion, 53 meritorious sportspersons and para-sportspersons of Odisha received their appointment order for their outstanding performance in their sports disciplines and bringing laurels to their state and nation.
Bodybuilder Chandan Kumar Sahu, para-athlete Jayanti Behera, badminton player, Rutarparna Panda, para-badminton athlete Sunil Pradhan, rugby player, Muna Murmu, hockey players Jiwan Kishori Toppo and Janhabi Pradhan received their appointment order from the Sports Minister Tusharkanti Behera in presence of the Chief Minister.
Besides, 291 sportspersons were felicitated with cash awards, for their spectacular performance at the national and international level.
Commonwealth Games 2022 medal winners in hockey, Amit Rohidas and Deep Grace Ekka were also honoured by Chief Minister. While Amit received a cash award of Rs 75 lakh for winning silver, Deep received Rs 50 lakh for winning bronze.
Dutee Chand and Srabani Nanda were felicitated for participation in CWG 2022, Padmini Rout for participation in FIDE Chess Olympiad, Dinesh Kumar for participation in CWG 2022 received Rs 7.5 Lakh each from Sports Minister, Tusharkanti Behera at the ceremony.
Similarly, Chess player Saina Salonika received Rs 1.5 Lakh, football player Tankadhar Bag received Rs 2 lakh, Blind Chess player Soundarya Pradhan received Rs 2 lakh, Wheelchair fencers, V Ramesh Rao, Rakhal Sethy received Rs 2 lakh and Malati Panure received Rs 3 lakhs from the Sports Minister for their achievements in international platforms.
A total of Rs 2,12,82,500 was presented in cash awards by the Sports and Youth Services Department.
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