BHUBANESWAR: Eastern India’s first-of-its-kind sports science and sports promotion organisation SSI felicitated 24 national and international level athletes with ‘SSI National Sports Awards’ at a glittering ceremony here on Saturday.
The lifetime achievement award was given to two-time Olympian Shakti Singh, table tennis legend Sharath Kamal and colossus of domestic cricket Wasim Jaffer. Swimmer Sajan Prakash, ace shuttler Ayush Shetty, national record-breaking hurdler and one of India’s fastest-rising track stars Jyothi Yarraji, sprinter Animesh Kujur and hockey star Deepa Grace Ekka were also honoured.
The award ceremony organised by Bhubaneswar-based SSI along with SNM Group with support from the Odisha government brought three legends - ace shot-putter Shakti Singh, Olympian OP Singh Karhana and gold-medalist Samardeep Singh Gill on one stage to receive the award.
Three players from India’s women’s ice hockey team that won the historic bronze at the 2025 IIHF Women’s Asia Cup in Al-Ain, UAE, attended the event along with Ice Hockey Association of India (IHAI) secretary general Harjinder Singh. The team received the SSI Paika team award.
The SSI Karna Award named after the mythological warrior to symbolise valour, precision and sporting spirit was conferred across multiple major categories. The Milkha Singh Sprint Award was given to India’s fastest athletes. Awards named after Dilip Tirkey and Shakti Singh honoured excellence in hockey and throwing events respectively. The best coach award was given to Olympian and former archer Rahul Banerjee, C Ajith Kumar and Hariprasad Pattanayak.
Chief secretary Manoj Ahuja, who presented the awards, recollected his stint as the state’s sports secretary back in 2012 to share anecdotes about his fondness for sports. Transport commissioner Amitabh Thakur, director of Sports Yeddula Vijay and Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey hailed the SSI sports award recipients.
SSI founder and orthoscopic surgeon Dr Sarthak Patnaik narrated his vision of strengthening grassroot sports in India. Taking a cue from the Bollywood movie Swadesh, Patnaik shared that he returned from abroad after completing his specialisation in sports science to give back to the country. He expressed his desire to help India in every possible way in clinching more Olympic medals. Patnaik has been helping the Ice Hockey teams of India at national and international events as its chief medical officer.