Cyclist Swati Singh gets IMPaCT instituted 30th Ekalabya Purskar

By Sukanta Kumar Mohanty

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 23: Eminent cyclist Swati Singh was on Friday presented the prestigious 30th ‘Ekalabya Puraskar’ given by Indian Metals Public Charitable Trust (IMPaCT).

 She was honored for performance from 1st April 2020 to 31st march 2022 at both national and international levels.

Ms Singh was presented with Citation, Trophy and Rs 5 lakh cash in a programme held at May Fair Convention Hall, Bhubaneswar.

On this occasion, woman footballer Pyari Xaxa and hockey player Shilananda Lakra also were honored with citations and Rs 50,000 each cash awards.

Billiards & Snooker World Champion Padma Bhusan Shri Pankaj Advani joined the programme as the chief guest is of the evening and Smt. Pranati Mishra, Asian Games Medalist attended as the guest of honour.

Trustee Mr Baijayant Panda who is also the Chairman of Eklabya Puraskar, was also present along with the jury members.

Mr. Kishore Mohan Mohanty, Senior General Manager – Corporate Affairs IMFA & Convenor 30th Eklabya Puraskar presented the inaugural welcome address.

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 morale 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.