Renowned cricket coach Kishore Mania was honoured with the 1st Kamal Ganguly Memorial Sports Award in a function Saheed Sporting Club ground in Bhubaneswar today. Odisha Cricket Association secretary Asirbad Behera presented the award, which carried a trophy and citation, in the presence of East Coast Railway Sports Association president Dilip Kumar Samantaray, OCA joint-secretary Sanjib Dutta and treasurer Satya Mohanty.

Mania, who groomed scores of cricketers, including former Test opener Shiv Sundar Das, junior internationals Sritam Das, Ranji Biswal, Ranji Trophy players Amiya Ray and Tukuna Sahu during his 35-year-long coaching career, retired from government job last year as an Assistant Director of Sports.

Leading cricket club Saheed Sporting, which has the credit of producing former India swing bowler Debasis Mohanty and more than 10 first class cricketers including Rashmi Ranjan Parida and P Jayachandra, instituted the award in the memory of its former coach Kamal Ganguly, who passed away in November 2006.

A freelance coach, Ganguly rendered yeomen service to Odisha cricket, shaping the careers of host of youngsters into accomplished cricketers during his four-decade-long career. His disciples include, Odisha`s first international Debasis Mohanty and first class cricketers Rashmi Ranjan Parida, Prashant Mohapatra, Abakash Khatua, BBCC Mohapatra, P Jayachandra and Saroj Barik.