Woman cricket coach Rashmita Mohanty and former Odisha first-class cricketer Ashokananda Jena were today conferred with the Kamal Ganguly Memorial Sports Awards for the year 2018.  In a function, held at Saheed Sporting Ground here, Rashmita, who is working as the Assistant Sports Director at KIIT University, received the award in the Outstanding Coach category.

Former Odisha Ranji team captain Ashokananda Jena bagged the award in the category of Lifetime Achievement. The awards were presented by Bhubaneswar Central MLA Bijay Kumar Mohanty, in the presence of local corporator Saswati Mishra, Maruti Estate India Managing Director Jitendra Prasad Singh and Saheed Sporting Club secretary Pankaj Patnaik.

Leading cricket Club Saheed Sporting instituted the Outstanding Coach Award in the memory of eminent cricket coach Kamal Ganguly in 2013. The Lifetime Achievement was added in the year 2015. The awards were not conferred for the year 2016.

ROLL OF HONOUR:

Outstanding Coach Award: For the Year 2012: Kishore Mania (Cricket), 2013: Jose Jacob (Rowing), 2014: Nanda Kishore Patnaik (Football), 2015: Nila Madhab Deo (Athletics), 2017: Ashok Mishra (Gymnastics), 2018: Rashmita Mohanty (Cricket).

Life-time Achievement Award: For the Year 2014: Madan Mohanty Mohanty (Cricket), 2015: Bijay Kumar Satpathy (Weightlifting), 2017: Arupananda Routray (Basketball).
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PHOTO: Woman cricket coach Rashmita Mohanty (3rd from Left) and former first-class cricketer Ashokananda Jena (4th from Left) with guests and Saheed Sporting Club secretary at the Kamal Ganguly Memorial Awards presentation function in Bhubaneswar on 17 March, 2019.