Bhubaneswar: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday felicitated the paralympic players and officials for their spectacular performance at the recent Tokyo Paralympics.
The players, who were felicitated, included Pramod Bhagat, Tokyo Paralympics gold medallist; Krishna Nagar, gold medallist; Manoj Sarkar, bronze medallist; Tarun Dhillion, paralympian; Parul Parmar, paralympian; Palak Kholi, paralympian and Rajkumar, Arjuna awardee.
Deepa Malik, president, Paralympic Committee of India; Prabhakar Rao, chairman, Para-Badminton India; Gaurav Khanna, Head Coach, Para-Badminton Indian team; and Shiba Prasad Das, head coach, Odisha Para badminton were the officials who were felicitated.
Thanking the chief minister for his initiatives for development of sports in the country, Deepa Malik said Odisha has emerged as a model for sports development and lauded its support for the sports persons and para-sportspersons.
The chief minister assured all support of the state government to the para-sports events and to the para-sportspersons in future.
It may be mentioned that Bhubaneswar is hosting the 4th National Para-badminton championships from December 24 to 26. More than 400 para-badminton players from across the country are participating in the event.
Also Read: Fourth National Para Badminton Championship Begins In Bhubaneswar