OSUK 2022 – Sports Excellence Awards

OSUK 2022 – Sports Excellence Awards

Introduction

OSUK, as a representative organisation of Odia communities in UK, is delighted to have launched ‘Sports Excellence Awards’ at its 43rd annual convention OSUK 2002 at Manchester. The purpose of this initiative is to felicitate and encourage good performance in sports with an objective of promoting sports and sports’ excellence in OSUK communities.

OSUK encourages all Odias; young and old, men and women, boys and girls to get more involved in sports and progress to national/international championship and competitions. While the sports bodies in UK do an excellent job in delivering sports facilities locally and nationally in partnership with local and national governments, it is mostly a parental/individual responsibility to make use of facilities to prosper. OSUK sees itself as a promoter of those who have excelled and those who are doing well.

Awards Categories

For the debut year of the awards, the selection team received a total of 12 nominations in the following sports: Cricket, Badminton, Hockey, Cycling, Gymnastics, and Running. There were two categories of awards: Sports Excellence and Sports Achievement. Sports Excellence, with a cash award of £51 and certificate, is aimed at those who are already playing at District/Borough, County teams and above in their age group. Sports Achievement is for the rising stars who have performed at club level and have won medals/trophies and matches. This award consist of a cash prize of £25 and a certificate. OSUK sports team is thankful to Xpertnest group of companies for sponsoring this inaugural sports awards.

Sports Excellence Award Winners – 2022

There are 4 winners in this category: cricketers Samarjit & Snehaan from London, cyclist Gaurav from & endurance runner Madhusmita. Samarjit, Snehaan and Gaurav are in their late teens and are pursuing sports while at University/High school. Madhusmita is a working mom who has excelled in marathon running.

Madhusmita Jena, from Stockport Manchester, became a marathon runner after birth of her first son. She has run 35 full and ultra marathon races across the globe in last 14 years including 100kms and 210 Kms across Rajasthan. She has run in the prestigious World Marathon Majors Boston and London and has run/won marathon races in Jaipur, India and in Cairo, Egypt.

Gaurav Meher, 19, is from Romford, London. He has represented Redbridge borough in BMX cycling event in London Games. Gaurav is a professional road cyclist. As a former member of Lee Valley Youth Cycling Club (LVYCC), he has represented the club in many National and European races. Gaurav was  the Youth Travel Ambassodor for ICHS(Ilford County High School) and was part of many meetings with TFL and ministers on behalf of the school. He was awarded the prestigious Jack Petchy award which is an outstanding award in the UK. Gaurav is still pursuing cycling as an adult and now joined BCN(Black Cyclists Network) to represent them in the adult biking tournaments.

Snehaan Das, 19 lives in Watford Hertfordshire. He played for Hertfordshire County Cricket Team; Played for Middlesex County Cricket Regional Select Team – 2016. He was selected for Berkshire County Cricket Winter Training Squad and also played for Berkshire County Development Team. He played for London Borough of Harrow and was a winning member of a tournament, Scored a record T20 century not out at the age of just 13.

Samarjit Mahanty, 16, lives in Harrow London and plays for Eastcote Cricket Club Middlesex. He has represented Middlesex County, Buckinghamshire County in his age group teams. He was an all-rounder in the team winning Gabi Allen Cup 2016. He currently plays for Buckinghamshire County.

Sports Achievement Award Winners – 2022

There are three winners is this category: cricketer Praanjol Nanda & Nikhil Tripathy and Distance Runner Ms Sunaya Nanda.

Praanjol Nanda 13, of Stockport Manchester plays for North East Cheshire Cricket Club. She has been part of tournament winning team of Under 13.

Nikhil Tripathy, 11, lives in Harrow London and is a winner of the West London schools tournament involving 6 boroughs of West London. He was a player of the season in Harrow St Mary’s cricket club. He has won many trophies and awards at this young age.

Eight-year-old Sunaya of Amersham Buckinghamshire is a regular parkrunner who runs a 5km and/or 2km every weekend and has stacked up 465km in about 3 years which is equivalent of running 11 full marathons! She is getting speedier for her age with a personal best of 27mins 54seconds for 5km and 9mins 20 second for 2km which is above 70% age grading score.

What is Next?

We congratulate all the winners of this year awards. Hope they progress further up the ladder and keep enjoying their sports.

We are expecting more nominations from the community for next year and expect the prize money to be bigger as well.