Swayams Mishra, Arun Das To Receive OSJA Awards

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Sports Journalists’ Association (OSJA) will present the best sportsperson award to chess Grandmaster Swayams Mishra and lifetime achievement award to athletics coach Arun Das at a function at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack, on March 21.

The awards for the previous year will also be presented during the function. The awards could not be presented last year due to COVID-19 pandemic, said OSJA president Sandeep Mishra in a press release.

For last year, the awards will be presented to para badminton player Pramod Bhagat (best sportsperson) and athletics coach Panchanan Gantayat (lifetime achievement).

The award includes cash reward of Rs 25,000 and a memento.

Veteran media personalities Hrudayanath Das and Syamakanta Patnaik will be felicitated on the occasion.

OSJA is affiliated to Sports Journalists’ Federation of India and the award function was instituted in 2018.

The first recipients of the award were Purnima Hembram (athletics – best sportsperson) and  Deba Prasad Singh (football – lifetime achievement). In 2019, the best sportsperson award was given to Amit Rohidas (hockey) while Braja Bhusan Mohanty (boxing) was honoured with lifetime achievement award.