Woman hockey international Lilima Minz was today selected for the Ekalabya Puraskar 2018, one of the most prestigious sports awards of the state. She will get a cash award of Rs 5 lakh along with a citation at the Ekalabya Award function, the date for which will be announced soon.

Lilima Minz represented Indian senior team for the first time in 2011 during a four-nation tournament in Argentina.She completed her 100 appearances for the National team. She was also part of the squad that represented India in 2016 summer Olympics. Minz was part of the Indian team that won the gold medal Women’s Hockey Asia Cup after a gap of 13 years at Kakamigahara city in Japan on Nov 5, 2017.

Besides Minz, two other sportspersons will be felicitated for their remarkable performances at various international and national level in their respective fields. They are: weightlifter Jhili Dalabehera and badminton player Rutuparna Panda. Both will receive a cash prize of Rs 50,000 each along with citations.

The Ekalabya Puraskar has been instituted by IMPaCT, the social wing of IMFA. The list of past awardees who have gone on to create history includes names like international hockey players Dillip Tirkey, Probodh Tirkey Ignace Tirkey and Dipsan Tirkey; chess players Debashis Das and Padmini Rout; cricketers Shib Sundar Das and Debashish Mohanty, shooter Shriyanka Sadangi, weightlifter K Ravi Kumar, athletes Dutee Chand, Purnima Hemram and Srabani Nanda.