31st EKALABYA PURASKAR TO TENNIS STAR DEBASIS SAHOO

Bhubaneswar, 27/12/23: Prestigious 31^st Ekalabya Puraskar given every year to encourage young talents of the State was presented to Shri Debasis Sahoo for the current year. He was honoured for performance from 1^st April 2021 to 31^st march 2023 at both national & international levels. Debasis was presented with Citation, Trophy & Five Lakh cash in a programme at The Crown-IHCL SeleQtions, Nayapalli, Bhubaneswar.

 In this occasion, Athlete Shri Bapi Hansda and Weightlifter Ms. Jyoshna Sabar also were honoured with a Citation and One Lakh cash awards each.

Cricket Legend-Team Member World Cup Winning Team 83 Shri Madan Lal graced the occasion as the Chief Guest of the evening and Mr. Pawan Agarwal, Former Ranji Trophy Cricket Player and NCA Coach (BCCI) attended as the Guest of honour. Trustee Mr. Baijayant Panda, Chairman Ekalabya Puraskar Committee-2023 was present along with the jury members. Mr. Syed Maqbool Ali, Management Consultant presented the inaugural welcome address. The function ended with Vote of Thanks from Mr. Kishore Mohan Mohanty, Sr General Manager-Corporate Affairs & Convenor 31^st Ekalabya Puraskar.

Ekalabya Puraskar, instituted by IMPaCT, managed by IMFA, the leading Ferro Alloys producer in the country, in the year 1993 has come a long way to be recognized as the most prestigious sports award of Odisha, drawing parallels with many national awards. A mere look at the career graph of many of the past awardees confirms that over the years, it has been a moral booster for the best sporting talents in the State. The award is given every year to young sportspersons of Odisha in recognition of their outstanding performance in the preceding two years.