The Odisha State government has won the Best State for the Promotion of Sport honour in the 2021 edition of the Sportstar Aces Awards.
This is the state's third win in a row in the Sportstar annual awards, having won the award in 2019 and 2020 as well.
The Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik was honoured by Ayon Sengupta, editor of Sportstar. MM Somaya, Olympic gold-medallist and Aces Awards jury member and LV Navaneeth, CEO of The Hindu Group in a ceremony at the Lokaseva Bhavan in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.
"It's indeed a moment of great pride for us in Odisha to be honoured as the Best State for Promotion of Sport for the period 2011-2020. I humbly accept this award on behalf of the people of Odisha. I thank the eminent jury headed by renowned cricketer Sunil Gavaskar for choosing Odisha for this award," Patnaik said through a video message.
"For generations in India, Sportstar was the window to the world of sport. It has been a source of inspiration and motivation for decades before the era of television and internet. I am happy that Sportstar is continuing its rich tradition of promoting and recognising achievements in sport," he added.
Odisha has made sports a priority sector with investment swelling from Rs 28 crore in 2010- 11 to Rs 301 crore in 2020-21.
Watch: Naveen Patnaik receives the Sportstar Aces Award 2021 for the Best State for promotion of sport on behalf of Odisha
Hockey has found a home in Odisha, which has hosted Champions Trophy 2014, Hockey World League 2017, Men’s Hockey World Cup 2018, FIH Men’s Series Finals 2019, Olympic Hockey Qualifiers 2019, and the Pro League in 2020.
The state’s rise to global prominence started with the 22nd Asian Athletics Championships 2017. Odisha is also the first state to sponsor the National Hockey Teams, for a period of five years. It recently, also signed agreement with Rugby India to sponsor the national Rugby teams till 2023. It is also the first state to support the team Odisha FC in the ISL.
In the last few years, Odisha has hosted a variety of international events, including the 2019 Hero Super Cup, ISL 2019-2020, Asia Rugby 7s U-18 Girls Championship, Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships 2019, and the Khelo India University Games 2020.
Besides hosting marquee events and developing infrastructure for key disciplines such as Athletics, Hockey, and Football, Odisha signed MoUs with leading corporates and eminent sport personalities in November 2018 to set up High Performance Centres (HPCs) in disciplines where Odisha does well and has the potential to excel.
Comments
SHARE