Dipsan Tirkey to receive Ekalabya Puraskar today

Bhubaneswar: International hockey defender Dipsan Tirkey will be presented with the 25^th Ekalabya Puraskar 2017 instituted by Indian Metals Public Charitable Trust (IMPaCT) today at Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB).

Tirkey, who recently played for the Indian team in the Men’s Hockey World League held in Bhubaneswar will receive a cash award of Rs 5 lakh and a citation at the silver jubilee function of the award ceremony.

Athlete Amiya Mallick and hockey player Deep Grace Ekka will also be felicitated for their outstanding performance last year.

Amiya Mallick represented India in the 22^nd Asian Athletics Championships held at the Kalinga Stadium while Deep Grace Ekka played for Team India at the Asia Cup where the team was crowned champion. In 2016, she was a part of the national team for Rio Olympics.

The Ekalabya Puraskar is presented by IMPaCT, the social wing of IMFA, which has been promoting literature, sports, art, culture and other socially meaningful activities in the state for decades.

The Puraskar, an annual award given to young upcoming sportspersons, has come a long way to be recognized as the most prestigious sports award of Odisha, drawing parallels with many national awards. It has acted as a catalyst for sportspersons to excel both at National and International level. The list of past awardees who have gone on to create history includes names like International Hockey players Dilip Tirkey, Prabodh Tirkey and Ignace Tirkey, Chess players Debashis Das and Padmini Rout, Cricketers Shiv Sunder Das and Debashish Mohanty, Shooter Shriyanka Sadangi, Weight-lifter K Ravi Kumar, Athletes Dutee Chand, Purnima Hemram and Srabani Nanda among others.