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Talented shooter Shriyanka Sadangi has been presented with the Ekalabya Puraskar for 2013 for her outstanding performance in the international arena, as per reports from Zee News. The award carries with it a cash award of Rs. 2 lakh.
Two other youngsters – athlete Dutee Chand and weightlifter Achyutanand Sahu – received a citation in recognition of their efforts and the pair received a cash award of Rs 50,000 each from the Ekalabya jury committee.
The Ekalabya Purasakar is a prestigious sports award given away to sportspersons from the state of Odisha. It was instituted in 1993 by the Indian Metals Public Charitable Trust (IMPaCT), a charitable wing of the IMFA group, which is a leading integrated Ferro Alloys producer.
The performance over the preceding two years is taken into consideration while judging an athlete. And the athlete who has shone the brightest on the international stage gets the nod for the award.
Sriyanaka has had a very impressive record of late, both nationally as well as internationally. She won gold at a Junior International Shooting championship in Suhl, Germany, in June 2012 and gold again the previous October (2011) in the 4th Asian Air Gun Shooting championship at Kuwait.
Dutee Chand also was unlucky to miss out as she had not done too badly herself. Chand picked up gold medals in the 100m and 200m at the 9th youths’ athlete meet in Bangalore in 2012. Another gold in the 100m and two silvers in the 200m and 4x100m relay came her way at the 37th Senior National Sports Festival 2012 at Ranchi.
Weightlifter Achytananda Sahu took home the gold in lifting in the 62 kg category, snatch in the 95 kg category and clean and jerk in the 130 kg category at the Commonwealth Junior Men’s Weightlifting Championship at Apia in June 2012. And in the previous year, he had won gold in the 62 kg category, when he lifted 102 kg in the snatch and 130 Kg in the clean and jerk, at the Junior Men’s Weight Lifting Championship at Capetown in October 2011.
