In yet another landmark achievement for Odisha, renowned sports magazine Sportstar honoured the State with the Decade’s Best State for Promotion of Sports Award for the period from 2011 to 2020. Odisha received the Sportstar Aces Award that honoured the giants of the decade.

Renowned Hockey star MM Somaya handed over the award to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at a special function at the Loka Seva Bhawan in presence of eminent sports personalities of the country. “I dedicate this award to the 4.5 crore people of Odisha, especially the youth,” the Chief Minister said after receiving the award.

He said that whether it’s disaster management or it’s Covid management, we have faced every challenge boldly, come out with flying colours, and have set new benchmarks.

Speaking about the success of Asian Athletics 2017 within just 90 days’ time period, he said Odisha has now become famous for its flawless conduct of national and international sports events, even at a short notice. He further said, “We have organised the Men’s Hockey World Cup 2018 and will be hosting the next edition as well in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela in 2023.

 Odisha is building the largest Hockey Stadium in the country in Rourkela for the Hockey World Cup. We are also building India’s first indoor athletics track. We will be probably the only State to plan for the indoor sports halls and fields across all the urban local bodies. The project is to be launched shortly and will be completed by next year.”

Veteran sportspersons Sunil Gavaskar, Baichung Bhutia, Viswanathan Anand, Aparna congratulated for the award and appreciated the efforts Odisha has made in championing the cause of sports.

Among others, Sports Minister Tusharkanti Behera, Vetrearan Hockey star Dillip Tirkey, Sports Principal Secretary  Vishal Dev, Secretary to CM 5T VK Pandian and other senior officers were present.