Bhubaneswar: Dutee Chand, the sprinter was conferred with the Biju Patnaik Sports Award for her outstanding performance in sports and games category. Coach Panchanan Gantayat was felicitated with Lifetime Achievement Award.
Biju Patnaik Sports Award is the highest award given away by the state government since 2001-02 to eminent sports personalities, sports organizers and sports journalists.
The Odisha chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, conferred the Biju Patnaik Sports awards, 2016 and gave away cash prizes to eminent sports personalites, here in a state level function organized the occasion of the National Sports Day on Tuesday.
Patnaik also presented the Biju Patnaik Sports Award to Sanhita Das for excellence in coaching, photo journalist Ashok Kumar Panda for sports journalism, and Hariprasad Pattnayak for best contribution to promote sports and games besides Rajanikanta Satrusalya.
The Biju Patnaik Bravey Award went to Harischandra Hiaal and Mohan Garada for rescuing five children during a flash flood last year.
Six dibyanga sportsperson, Pramod Bhagat (Para Badminton), Jayanti Behera (Para Atheletics), Rajesh Meher (Special Olympics), Jafar Iqbal and Sukhram Majhi (Blind Cricket) were given cash prize in Outstanding Sportsperson category.
Dipsan Tirkey, G.Narahari, Bonita Lakra and Bignaraj Miridia were also awarded in the outstanding sports persons category.
Transgender Meera Parida was given the State Award for Social Service. The other awardees in this category are Dinesh Kumar Mallick, Manoj Kumar Dani, Jhasaketan Ranaj, Gracy Mol Singh and Chinmaya Kumar Bebarta.
