She secured the heptathlon gold in the 15th Asian Junior Athletics Championship at Colombo in June, 2012 and silver in 53rd Open National Athletics Championship at Ranchi in September, 2013.
Woman sportspersons made a clean sweep of all three awards of the year as cricket international Rasanara Parbin and rowing international Manjula Xess were felicitated with Rs 50,000 each along with citations.

Instituted in the year 1993 by Indian Metal Public Charitable Trust (IMPaCT), Ekalabya Award has been a moral booster for young sporting talents of Odisha. The amount of monetary incentive for the year has been increased from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.

Past recipients of the award include Rachita Mistry, Anuradha Biswal (both athletics); Dilip Tirkey, Lazrus Barla, Ignace Tirkey, Prabodh Tirkey, William Xalxo, Gloria Dung Dung, Subhadra Pradhan (all hockey); Shiv Sundar Das, Debasis Mohanty, Sanjay Raul, Rashmi Ranjan Parida (all cricket); Padmini Rout, Kiran Manisha Mohanty, Debashis Das (both chess), Pravasini Dwivedi, Mamata Jena, Pratima Puhana (all rowing), K Ravi Kumar (weightlifting) and Shriyanka Sadangi (shooting).

Speaking on the occasion, Panda, also the MP from Kendrapara constituency, said the award would encourage young sportspersons achieve greater glory for the state and the country. ``We have introduced a new trend from this year by inviting a renowned sportsperson to present the award,`` he added.

With Jadeja and Biswal, who once shared the Team India dressing room, sharing their experience, ideas and jokes on the occasion, the function provided lots of entertainment for the audience. Describing sportspersons as the most blessed people in the society, Jadeja said, ``Sportspersons get all the support from the society to achieve success and in return, they give lots of entertainment and pride to the society.``

The cricketer-turned-commentator and actor was of the opinion that people from all walks of life, including administrators and patrons, have roles to play for the promotion of sports in the country.
Biswal, also a Rajya Sabha MP and president of Odisha Cricket Association president, suggested that the Ekalabya Award Committee should introduce an award for outstanding coaches of the state.
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TOP: Ajay Jedeja hands over the Ekalabya Award to Purnima Hembram in Bhubaneswar on Dec 26, 2014.
RIGHT: Awardees and guests (L to R) B J Panda, Ajay Jadeja, Manjula Xess, Purnima Hembram, Rasanara Parwin and Ranjib Biswal at the 22nd Ekalabya Award function in Bhubaneswar on Dec 26, 2014.