Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) received recognition for its contribution for the past year when it bagged the Best Corporate/PSU for the Promotion of Sports award at the Sportstar Aces Awards.
Ranjan Mohapatra, Director (HR), said, “IOCL has been promoting sports and sportspersons since last two-three decades now. It’s extremely satisfying to see our young budding sportspersons grow into international champions.
“Our sportspersons like Pullela Gopichand, Rohan Bopanna, Sharath Kamal, Manika Batra, D. Harika and so many others — all joined Indian Oil as young budding sportspersons and now have achieved international fame. We firmly believe that it’s important to provide support to athletes at the right age and time.”
Reflecting on its success in 2019, when its athletes won 84 international and 41 national medals, Mohapatra said, “2019 has been a phenomenal year — both Sharath and Manika received the Padma Awards, and Sharath also went on to win his record ninth national title!
“Chirag Shetty entered top 10 in badminton world rankings. Our chess players — Adhiban, Harika, Padmini and Surya Shekhar Ganguly had very good performances in various international tournaments.
“It’s more satisfying when we see our young players like Archana Kamath and Manav Thakar do so well. Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara also had phenomenal international performances in 2019. All our 89 sportspersons have done us proud and we hope that with the support that we provide our athletes can go on to win more medals at the world stage.”
Sports co-ordinator Manjusha Kanwar, a former India badminton international, said, “Not many people know of IOCL’s support of young athletes. IOCL has remained silent supporters of Indian sports. For athletes to go forward, they can continue to strive for excellence with the backing of having job security provided by IOCL.”
In the Olympics year, Mohapatra pointed out that this is the right time for IOCL to continue extending its support. “This year we will be supporting more sports,” he said.
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, chess ace Vishwanathan Anand, The Hindu Publishing Group chairman N. Ram, former India hockey captain M. M. Somaya, Olympian shooter Anjali Bhagwat and Olympian shuttler Aparna Popat selected the deserving winners in categories involving young athletes, teams, coaches and parathletes.
The awards look to create a medium of knowledge and vision exchange as it brings all stakeholders of Indian sports under one roof.
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