Basant, Basa bag Mahasuara Memorial Award

Orissa medium-pacer Basant Mohanty and umpire Arun Kumar Basa received this year’s Saroj Mahasuara Memorial Award on the occasion of seventh death anniversary of Saroj Mahasuara at Rameswar Sporting Club in Old Town, Bhubaneswar today. MLAs of capital city Bhubaneswar _ Bijay Kumar Mohanty (Central), Bhagirathi Badajena (North) and A K Panda (Ekamra) _ handed over the awards, which carried trophy, citation, bouquet and a gift packet. Club vice-president Samir Mohanty and secretary Manoj Mohapatra were present on the occasion. Bhubaneswar cricketer Mohanty, who made his first class debut in 2007, has bagged 49 wickets from 11 matches so far. Sambalpur-based Basa, who secured first position in BCCI’s all-India Ranji panel umpires’ examination in 2008, has officiated around 300 inter-district matches till date. The award was instituted five years ago in the memory of umpire Saroj Mahasuara, who died in a road accident while returning home after officiating an inter-district match at Cuttack in 2002. Earlier recipients of the award include Deepak Mangaraj (2004), Paresh Patel (2005), Atish Jena (2006), Alok Sahoo and Alok Mangaraj (2007), Haladhar Das (2008). This year, a category for umpires has been added to the award. PHOTO: Basant Mohanty (Left) and Arun Kumar Basa with the Saroj Mahasuara Memorial Awards in Bhubaneswar today.