Hockey Olympian Birendra Lakra was conferred with the Biju Patnaik Award for Outstanding Sportsperson of Year 2014 by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in a function here at Jayadev Bhawan today. ``I have won many awards in my career and they are all equally important for me. Awards motivate me to perform better,`` said the India defender, who was a part of the national team that won gold medal at the Incheon Asian Games in 2014, silver medal at Glasgow Commonwealth Games also in 2014 and bronze medal in the 2012 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup at Ipoh, Malaysia.
Though he did not apply for the award, members of the jury committee selected him of their own. Lakra, the winner of Hockey India`s Dhruv Batra Award for Player of the Year 2014, however, admitted that Biju Patnaik Award carried special significance for him. ``It is a special honour when you are awarded in your home state. Biju Patnaik Award is the highest government recognition for sports in the state and emotionally I feel very happy to have been conferred with it,`` described Lakra, who also received a statuette, scroll of honour and a cheque of Rs 2 lakh.