Khel Vikas female weightlifter, Pinki Nayak, won gold at the PYKKA All-India Rural National Weightlifting Competition being held in Ranchi, Jharkhand from March 10 to 14. Competing in the 48Kg category, Pinki beat tough competition from other states, by lifting 40kg in snatch, 51kg in clean and jerk and total of 91Kgs to win Gold. This is Pinki's second medal in this year, earlier he bagged bronze medal in the School National Weightlifting competition held in January 2013 in Guwahati, Assam.
Mention may be made that, Pinki Nayak is a student of Gram Vikas Kankia Residential School, and has been training under the Khel Vikas project for the past year and a half. The Khel Vikas project is a joint initiative of Odisha-based rural development organisation, Gram Vikas, and Delhi-based sport development organisation, Pro Sport Development, and is running programs in the four Gram Vikas residential schools in Odisha, as well as community weightlifting programs in and around Berhampur. The weightlifting program at Kankia's Khel Vikas academy is overseen by Ramesh Chandra Padhy from Berhampur, former coach of Olympian and Arjuna Awardee, K. Ravi Kumar and Cormac Whelan from Ireland, with a background in Sports Science and Coaching.