Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s Number One Civilian Award, the prestigious Odisha Living Legend Award of 2018 for Excellence on sports was conferred on Dutee Chand, the international sprinter. In a simple and elegant function here at the Crown Hotel, Dutee Chandreceived the award from Shri Pratap Jena, Hon’ble Minister of Health, Law and Information and Broadcasting and Shri Chanchalpathi Dasa, the Vice Chairman of The Akshaya Patra Foundation, Shri Rashmi Ranjan Parida, the Founder-Chairperson of Odisha Diary Foundation. Shri Debasish Samantaray, convenor of Living Legend Awards joined Minister Shri Jena and Shri Dasa in felicitating Dutee Chand for his excellent and unparalleled contribution to sport.
Dutee Chand needs no introduction for any Odia. Dutee Chand is professional sprinter and current national champion in the women’s’ 100 metres event. She is the third Indian woman to ever qualify for the Women’s 100 metres event at the Summer Olympic Games. In 2018, Chand clinched silver in women’s 100m at the Jakarta Asian Games. It was India’s first medal in 20 years in this event since 1998 and was first silver medal in this category after 32 years since P.T.Usha won in 1986 and Chand’s first medal in Asian games as she was banned in 2014. Her 200m silver medal is after 16 years for India since Saraswati Saha’s gold in 2002 at Busan. In 2017, at Asian Athletics Championships she clinched two bronze medals at Bhubaneswar. Her success encourages many women in this part of land to take up athletics as a career.
Apart from Odisha Living Legend Awards, Odisha Diary Foundation conferred several youth icons with Odisha Youth Inspiration Awards, inspiring business leaders with OdishaInc Awards and two annual special citations to innovative initiatives. The Foundation has also introduced the National Living Legend Award from this year.
Odisha Diary celebrated its 14th foundation day and the 8th anniversary of the Living Legend Awards. The event was hosted by Ms Dikshya Tiwari and Mr Kamala Kanta Dash. Shri Rashmi Ranjan Parida delivered the welcome address. Ms Prachee Naik, the Cofounder, managed and coordinated the event and the official vote of thanks was offered by Shri Debasish Samantarya.
About Odisha Diary Foundation
Odisha Diary Foundation is a not-for-profit trust that organises and manages festivals and functions the Odisha Living Legend Awards, Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) and Mystic Kalinga Festival (MKF). The foundation has been registered to carry forward the socio-cultural and capacity development activities of Odisha Media Info Services (OMIS). OMIS manages the leading online media platforms including that Odisha Diary, India Education Diary and OdishaInc. The foundation has taken KLF to Kandhamal and Koraput in last one year.
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