Bhubaneawar, December 24: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday felicitated the Para badminton players who won the medals at the recent Tokyo Paralympics. He congratulated them on their spectacular performance in Tokyo.
He 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, Pramod Bhagat – Tokyo Paralympics Gold medallist, Krishna Nagar – Tokyo Paralympics Gold medallist, Manoj Sarkar – Tokyo Paralympics Bronze medallist, Tarun Dhillion – Paralympian, Parul Parmar – Paralympian, Palak Kholi – Paralympian, Rajkumar – Arjuna Awardee.
Deepa Malik thanked Chief Minister for his initiatives for development of sports in the country. She lauded Odisha as a model for sports development and for the support of the state towards the sports persons and para-sportspersons.
Bhubaneswar is hosting the 4th National Para-badminton championships from December 24th to 26th 2021. More than 400 para-badminton players from across the country are participating on this event, which is the largest so far in this field. Ms Malik and the Paralympians praised the Government and the State association for making such good arrangements for the comfort of the para-badminton players.
Chief Minister Patnaik assured all support for the para-sports events and to the para-sportspersons. He extended his best wishes to all the participants in the on-going championship.