Bhubaneswar, Aug 30: Yesterday, eminent woman athlete, Purnima Hembram was bestowed with the prestigious Biju Patnaik Sports Award by the Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik along with Rs 2 lakh as cash prize. He also felicitated six other Odia girls who had also participated in the Rio Olympics, on the National Sports Day. Rs 5 lakh cash reward was given each to four women hockey players from Odisha, Deep Grace Ekka, Namita Toppo, Lilima Minz and Sunita Lakra and to two sprinters, Dutee Chand and Srabani Nanda. Also Rs 1 lakh along with the Biju Patnaik Bravery Award was given to Abinash Mishra.
Asirbad Behera was also felicitated with Rs 50,000 cash prize for his contribution towards development of sports in the state, and coach P Dharma Rao for weight lifting and Chitrasen Patra for football were felicitated with Rs 1 lakh each as cash prize.
Well-known sports journalist, Tanmay Das was felicitated with Rs 50,000 as cash prize for his contribution to the field with five other persons, Naresh Chandra Baliarsingh Mohapatra, Bikram Keshari Nayak, Debasis Sahu, Mahendra Kumar Nayak and Dhyananda Panda given Rs 25,000 each as cash award for social service.
Patnaik declared that a good sports climate is coming up in the state. He also ascertained that the state government is going to establish “world class” sports infrastructure and will be also providing coaching facilities, which would further brighten the prospect of sports in Odisha.
