BHUBANESWAR: Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik has announced a cash award of Rs 15 million to Indian sprint queen Dutee Chand on winning the Silver medal in the 100m event at 18th Asian Games in Indonesia.
Incidentally, it was 20 years ago that an athlete from Odisha brought laurels to the country in 100m. In the 1998 Asian Games, Odia athlete Rachita Panda Mistri had won Bronze in the track’s Blue Riband event.
The state has a special focus on athletics considering the performance of its athletes in recent times and the huge potential among the talented youth.
To encourage athletics, the state had organised successfully the Asian Athletics Championship in 2017 in partnership with International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF).
“The Athletics Federation of India, Odisha, has planned a high performance Athletics Academy which is expected to be launched shortly,” a release from the chief minister’s office states.
The academy will be the first of its kind at the state level.
Currently, the fastest man and woman in the country are from Odisha.
