Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today felicitated all 29 Indian athletes with cash awards for winning medals at the 22nd Asian Athletics Championships, held at the Kalinga Stadium here from July 6 to 9. The 34 athletes included three bronze medalists from Odisha, Dutee Chand, Srabani Nanda and Purnima Hembram.

In a special function held here at a star hotel, the gold medal winners were awarded with Rs 10 lakh each, silver medalists with Rs 7.5 lakh each and bronze medalists with Rs 5 lakh each. Special award was given to javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who created a meet record of 85.23 meters.

“The performance of the Indian team at the championships has been icing on the cake. All of us are extremely proud and delighted that India not only topped the medal table but also registered its highest medal tally as well as highest haul of gold medals in the 44-year history of Asian Athletics Championships,” the Chief Minister said.

Patnaik wished the athletes success in their future endeavors. He also extended best wishes for those who will be participating in the World Athletics Championships in August. Athletics Federation of India president Adille Sumariwalla, Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Chandra Sarathi Behera, Commissioner-cum Secretary Vishal Kumar Dev, Director R Vineel Krishna, Olympians Anuradha Biswal were present during the award presentation ceremony.

LIST OF AWARDEES:

Gold: Muhammed Anas Y, Ajay Kumar Saroj, Govindan Lakshmanan, Kunju Muhammed, Amoj Jacob, Arokia Rajiv, Neeraj Chopra, Chitra P U, Sudha Singh, Manpreet Kaur, Swapna Barman, Debastree Mazumdar, Jisna Mathew, M P Poovamma and Nirmala.
Silver: Arokia Rajiv, Tajinder Pal Singh Toor, Anu Raghavan, Gopi Thonakal and V Neena.
Bronze: Jabir MP, Bikas Gowda, Jinson Johnson, Davinder Singh Kang, Jisna Mathew, Sanjivani Jadhav, Nayana James, Sheena N V, Annu Rani, Purnima Hembram, Merlin K Joseph, Dutee Chand, Himashree Roy and Srabani Nanda.