Asian Athletics Championships: CM felicitates medal winners with cash awards

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today felicitated medal winners of the Indian contingent at the Asian Athletics Championships that concluded at Kalinga Stadium on Sunday. At a special function, the CM presented the successful athletes with cash awards.

At the function, the CM awarded the gold medal winners with Rs 10 lakh each while silver medalists were given Rs 7.5 lakh and bronze medalists Rs 5 lakh each. The awardees included G Lakshmanan, winner of two gold medals in men's 10000m and 5000 m events and Neeraj Chopra who secured gold in javelin as well as Odisha's Dutee Chand, Srabani Nanda and other female athletes who secured medals at the mega sporting event.

The function also featured eminent athletes Anuradha Biswal, Anju Bobby George and state sports minister Chandra Sarathi Behera as well as Athletics Federation of India President Adille Sumariwalla.

Earlier, addressing the valedictory function of the championship, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday night announced to set up the Kalinga International Sports City in Bhubaneswar to organise mega international events in future.

The sports city would aim at organaising international competitions including Commonwealth and Asian Games, said Patnaik on the closing day of the championships at Kalinga Stadium.

The State government has also aim to set up four satellite stadiums with world class infrastructures one each in Cuttack, Berhampur, Sambalpur and Rourkela, Naveen further announced.