Sports Authority of India has nominated Odisha athletics coach and IAAF technical official Prabodh Kumar Mohanty as a member of Khelo India Talent Identification Committee for East Zone (Athletics). As many as 14 states will be covered under East Zone.

The 14 states are: West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshwdeep. Khelo India Talent Identification Programme is an initiative of the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Government of India.

The role and responsibilities of Mohanty will include identification of grass-root talent by using appropriate methods and non-competitions, ensure updation of data base on NSRS and create ranking of athletes.

A former athlete, Mohanty won state and national medals in high jump and decathlon during his hey days. He worked in Indian Navy for 17 years before retiring in 1999. A native of Cuttack, Mohanty did duty as technical official in many international events, including Asian Athletics Championships, Commonwealth Games and World Military Games.

Mohanty is associated with Odisha Olympic Association as a technical official. Odisha Athletics Association secretary Asirbad Behera congratulated him on being nominated as a member of the Khelo India East Zone Talent Identification Committee.