Weightlifter K Ravi Kumar appointed DSP

Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s ace weightlifter and Arjun awardee K Ravi Kumar was on Thursday appointed deputy superintendent of police (DSP) by chief minister Naveen Patnaik. An official communication in this regard was released by the chief minister’s office (CMO) this afternoon.

The 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medalist’s appointment comes a week after the appointment of sprinter Dutee Chand as Assistant Manager at Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and Srabani Nanda as Junior Executive at Odisha Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC).

Notably, Kumar has become the first person to be appointed directly in ‘A’ category under sports quota.

“I am thankful to the State government and my well-wishers for whom I have got this opportunity to work for my State. Now I am preparing for an event in November. I hope I will recover soon to bring more and more laurels for my State,” an elated Kumar said.

A native of Brahmapur city in Ganjam district, Kumar had won three gold medals in the 2009 Commonwealth Games at Penang in Malaysia.

In the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi too, he had won three gold medals. In 2011, he had won three bronze medals in the Senior Asian Weightlifting Championship at Tongling, China. He had also won 3 gold medals in Senior National Weightlifting Championship held at Bangalore in 2012.