BHUBANESWAR 02-Apr-2012 268
The 19th Ekalabya Puraskar for the year 2011 was conferred on international woman rower Pratima Puhan at an elegant function here this evening. Forest and Environment Minister Debi Prasad Mishra handed over the prestigious award, which carried a cash prize of Rs 1.5 lakhs along with a statuette and citation.
It was a double delight for the rowers as Pratima`s partner Pramila Prava Minz was presented with first runner-up award. The second runner-up award went to India woman football captain Sasmita Mallick. Sports and Youth Services Minister Badri Narayan Patra presented the runner-up awards, which carried a cash prize of Rs 25,000 each and citation.
Trainees of SAI Watersports Centre, Jagatpur (Cuttack), Pratima and Pramila made history by becoming India`s first woman rowers to win a medal in 2010 Asian Games. The duo bagged a bronze in the coxless pair event, clocking seven minutes 47.50 seconds at Guangzhou, China on November 19, 2010.
Continuing her winning spree, Pratima bagged a gold and a silver in the 34th National Games at Dhanbad last year and three gold medals in the 31st Open National Rowing Championship at Hyderabad in February this year.
Both Pramila and Pratima credited their achievements to SAI coach Jose Jacob, who has been grooming rowing talents in Odisha for over a decade despite not getting the recognition he highly deserves.
In the absence of footballer Sasmita Mallick, now an employee of Indian Railways and serving at Patna, her brother Akshaya Mallick received the award.
Ekalabya Puraskar was instituted by Indian Metals Public Charitable Trust (IMPaCT), the charitable wing of IMFA Group – the leading integrated Ferro Alloys Producer in the Country, in 1993. The award is given every year to young (u-25) sportspersons of Odisha in recognition of their outstanding performance in the preceding two years.
Past recipients of the award include Rachita Mistry, Anuradha Biswal (both athletics); Dilip Tirkey, Lazrus Barla, Ignace Tirkey, Prabodh Tirkey, William Xalxo, Gloria Dung Dung, Subhadra Pradhan (all hockey); Shiv Sundar Das, Debasis Mohanty, Sanjay Raul, Rashmi Ranjan Parida (all cricket); Padmini Rout, Kiran Manisha Mohanty (both chess), Pravasini Dwivedi, Mamata Jena (both rowing) and K Ravi Kumar (weightlifting).
Parliament Member and IMPaCT trustee Baijayant Panda, Jurry Committee members Pranabindu Acharya, Gopal Krushna Nayak, Lalit Das, S Maqbool Ali, Sanatan Pani and convenor Sanjeev Das were present in the function.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PHOTO: Pratima Puhana and Pramila Prava Minz with guests at the 19th Ekalaby Puraskar function in Bhubaneswar on April 2, 2012.
