Odisha Wins ‘Best State’ Sportstar Award For Promotion Of Sports, Deep Grace Ekka, Pramod Bhagat Also Bag Prize

Bhubaneswar/Mumbai: Odisha was adjudged as the ‘Best State’ for promotion of sports at the Sportstar ACES Awards 2020 held in Mumbai on Monday. Sports Minister Tusharkanti Behera received the award for the State. This is the second consecutive year that the State has won the award in the same category.

[caption id="attachment_428060" align="alignnone" width="750"] Pic Credit: sportstar.thehindu.com[/caption]

Odisha’s ace para badminton player Pramod Bhagat and hockey star Deep Grace Ekka also won the Sportsman of the Year (Para-sports) Jury award and Sportswoman of the Year (Team Sports) award respectively.

Taking to Twitter, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik thanked the Sportstar for honouring the State with the award for the second consecutive year.

"It adds another feather to Odisha’s cap and strengthens our resolve to transform Odisha into a global sports hub," tweeted Naveen.

During the occasion, country's leading sportspersons and organisations were felicitated in 21 different categories with P.V. Sindhu winning Sportstar of the Year award, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd winning Best Corporate/PSU for the Promotion of Sports, Indian men's Cricket Test team bagging the Team of the Year prize. Cricket legend Kapil Dev was honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award.

Sportswoman of the Year (Para-sports) - Ekta Bhyan

Sportswoman of the Year (Track and Field) - Annu Rani

Sportsman of the Year (Track and Field) - Avinash Sable

Sportsman of the Year (Racquet Sports) - B. Sai Praneeth

Special Jury Award- Pankaj Advani

Sportswoman of the Year (Individual Sports) - Koneru Humpy and Apurvi Chandela

Sportsman of the Year (Individual Sports) - Bajrang Punia

Special Recognition Award- Leander Paes

Young Athlete of the Year (Male)- R. Praggnanandhaa and Esow Alben

Young Athlete of the Year (Female)- Mehuli Ghosh

Sportsman of the Year (Team Sports) - Manpreet Singh

Sportswoman of the Year (Cricket) - Smriti Mandhana

Sportsman of the Year (Cricket) - Rohit Sharma

Coach of the Year- Pullela Gopichand and R. B. Ramesh

Chairman’s Choice Award- Steve Smith

Best University for the Promotion of Sports - Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research