Odisha CM Felicitates Tokyo Paralympics Badminton Players

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday felicitated the para badminton players who won medals at the recent Tokyo Paralympics.

Patnaik felicitated gold medallists Pramod Bhagat and Krishna Nagar; bronze medallist Manoj Sarkar; Paralympians Tarun Dhillion, Parul Parmar and Palak Kholi; and Arjuna awardee Raj Kumar.

He also felicitated Deepa Malik, President, Paralympic Committee of India; Prabhakar Rao, Chairman, Para-Badminton India; Gaurav Khanna -- Head coach, Para-Badminton Indian team, Shiba Prasad Das -- Head coach, Odisha Para-Badminton.

Deepa thanked the Chief Minister for his initiatives for development of sports in the country. She lauded Odisha as a model for sports development and for support from the state to sportspersons and para-sportspersons.

Congratulating the players on their spectacular performance in Tokyo, Patnaik assured all support for para-sports events and to the para-sportspersons. He extended his best wishes to all participants in the ongoing fourth National Para-Badminton Championship.

The championship started in Odisha on December 24 and will end on December 26. More than 400 para-badminton players from across the country are participating in this event, which is the largest so far in this field.