BHUBANESWAR 12-Jun-2016
The Saheed Sporting-Maruti Estate (SSME) Cricketer of the Year Award was today conferred on Odisha Ranji team vice-captain Govinda Poddar and state women team captain Madhusmita Behera for for their impressive performance in the year 2015-16.
Top-order batsman Poddar, who amassed 555 runs, including three hundreds and one fifty in eight Ranji Trophy matches this season, received the 24th SSME Award, which carried a special trophy, citation, blazer and Rs 31,000. Cuttack-based Behera, who represented India A and India Red this season, bagged the 3rd SSME Woman Cricketer of the Year Award, which included trophy, citation, blazer and Rs 21,000.
Eminent sand artist Sudarshan Patnaik handed over the awards in the presence of Z-Estate chief Tapan Mohanty, Maruti Estate India Private Limited Managing Director Jitendra Prasad Singh and Saheed Sporting Club secretary Pankaj Patnaik.
Earlier on February 9, the names of Poddar and Behera were finalised by a selection committee, comprising Odisha Sports Journalists Association working president Sanatan Pani; vice-presidents Sushant Mohanty, Sanjib Biswal, Umakant Mishra; secretary Suresh Swain; joint-secretary Sambit Mohapatra; executive members Tapan Kumar Swain, Niranjan Reddy, Saheed Sporting Club secretary Pankaj Patnaik and Maruti Estate India Private Limited MD Jitendra Prasad Singh. The SSME Cricketer of the Year Award was instituted in the year 1993-93 by premier cricket club Saheed Sporting with Maruti Estate India Private Limited as the sole sponsor.
ROLL OF HONOUR:
SSME Cricketer of the Year Award: 1. Ranjib Biswal (1992-93), 2. P Jayachandra (1993-94), 3. Rashmi Ranjan Parida (1994-95), 4. Prasant Mohapatra (1995-96), 5. Debasis Mohanty (1996-97), 6. Pravanjan Mullick (1997-98), 7. Shiv Sundar Das (1998-99), 8. Sanjay Satpathy (1999-2000), 9. Debasis Mohanty (2000-01), 10. Pravanjan Mullick (2001-02), 11. BBCC Mohapatra (2002-03), 12. Deepak Mangaraj (2003-04), 13. Debasis Mohanty (2004-05), 14. Pravanjan Mullick (2005-06), 15. Debasis Mohanty (2006-07), 16. Debasis Mohanty (2007-08), 17. Basant Mohanty (2008-09), 18. Dhiraj Singh (2009-10), 19. Basant Mohaty (2010-11), 20. Biplab Samantaray (2011-12), 21. Basant Mohanty (2012-13), 22. Natraj Behera (2013-14), 23. Deepak Behera (2014-15), 24. Govind Poddar (2015-16).
SSME Woman Cricketer of the Year Award: 1. Madhuri Meheta (2013-14), 2. Swagatika Rath (2014-15), 3. Madhusmita Behera (2015-16).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PHOTO: Govind Poddar (3rd from left) and Madhusmita Behera (3rd from right) pose with SSME Cricketer of Year Award in Bhubaneswar on June 12, 2016.
