Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik hands over cash award of 2.5 crore & DSP jobs to hockey players Lakra & Rohidas

BHUBANESWAR: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday handed over a cash award of Rs 2.5 crore each to Odia hockey players Birendra Lakra and Amit Rohidas, who were part of the Indian men’s hockey team that won bronze in the Tokyo Olympics after a gap of 41 years.
Offer letters for appointment as deputy superintendent of police (DSP) in Odisha Police were also handed over to both Lakra and Rohidas by the chief minister.
At a special felicitation ceremony organised at the Kalinga Stadium here, Naveen also handed over a cash award of Rs 50 lakh each to Deep Grace Ekka and Namita Toppo, who were with the national women’s hockey team that finished fourth and achieved best-ever performance in Olympics.
Naveen commended the spirited fight of the women’s team in reaching the semi-finals and creating history in Indian hockey.
Lauding the performance of the Odia players, Naveen advised them to continue their hard work and bring more laurels to the country and assured them full support in future.
“Kalinga Stadium has become the global hub of Hockey. The next edition of Men’s Hockey World Cup will also be played at the Stadium along with another venue at Rourkela,” said Naveen.
As Odisha is the official sponsor of the national hockey teams, the chief minister is likely to felicitate the entire team of the men’s and women’s teams at the stadium on August 17 for their spectacular performance in Tokyo.
All four players were also excited to be back at their home turf where they had competed against the best in the world which helped them in their journey to the Olympics.
They also expressed deep gratitude to the chief minister for supporting Indian hockey, which resulted in record performance in the Tokyo Olympics.
All four players also appreciated the state government for fulfilling its commitment of cash rewards and jobs on their arrival in the state.
Lakra and Deep Grace, who are vice-captains of the men’s and women’s teams respectively, presented the team jerseys with signatures of all the team members to the chief minister.
The hockey players from the high-performance centre and the sports hostel were present during the ceremony.
Naveen also assured all support to the emerging players from Odisha.
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