Talented shooter Shriyanka Sadangi recently bagged the Ekalabya Puraskar for 2013 which carries a cash award of Rs 2 lakh for her outstanding performance in the international arena. The Ekalabya Purasakar instituted in 1993 by Indian Metals Public Charitable Trust (IMPaCT), charitable wing of IMFA group, a leading integrated Ferro Alloys producer, is recognised as a prestigious sports award of Odisha. The award is given every year to young sportspersons of Odisha recognising their outstanding performance in the preceding two years. Shriyanka has a brilliant national and international track record. She has won a gold medal in the Junior International Shooting championship held in Suhl, Germany, in June 2012 and gold in the fourth Asian Air Gun Shooting championship at Kuwait in October 2011.
Petite Shriyanka, who belongs to Sambalpur, is now based in Delhi and is honing her skill at Khel Ratna Awardee Gagan Narang’s shooting academy Guf for Glory at Pune. In her three-year-long international career, she has bagged 10 medals so far. Her last medal was a gold, which she claimed in the 10m air-rifle team event of the Junior International Shooting Championship at Suhl in Germany on June 7 earlier last year. Daughter of Army officer Col Sitanshu Charan Sadangi and Sudha Sadangi, Shriyanka is currently studying in St Stephen’s College, New Delhi.
— diana@newindianexpress.com