Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik felicitated medal-winning karatekas at the National Junior and Sub-Junior Karate Championships, along with bronze medal- winner at the Asian Junior Chess Championships and two Oriya girls selected for the sub-junior football national camp at the Secretariat here Friday.
Among others, sports and youth affairs minister Chandra Sarathi Behera, Orissa Karate Association general secretary Hari Prasad Patnaik along with coach and manager Rajiv Kumar Singh and officials Gouri Mohanty, Jayadev Patnaik, Anupama Swain, Dilip Jena and Himanshu Sekhar Das were present during the felicitation programme. Orissa Volleyball Association secretary Pradip Mohanty, assistant director of sports and youth affairs department Beda Bandhu Mishra and official Gyanaranjan Parida also graced the ceremony. Bhubaneswar North MLA Priyadarshi Mishra congratulated all the players for their success on this occasion.
Karatekas Payal Baral, Bhagaban Reddy, Bonali Das, Udit Udam, Sanket Nayak, Ansuman Behera, Ritesh Mohanty, Jyotiranjan Nayak, Subhranshu Das, Gitanjali Das, Saranya Roy, Loma Swain, Diptirani Nayak, Upasana Sahoo, Madhu Priya Bai, emerging volleyball player Sirsa Karami and chess player Rutumhara Bidhar were felicitated by the Chief Minister..
Sports minister Behera announced that amount of Rs 5,00,000 will be distributed among the sportspersons felicitated shortly. “Orissa government will continue to support the sportspersons of the on a regular basis,” he stated.