Indus Valley Times

By Dr Ramachandra Behera

Lanjigarh, June 14: Vedanta Aluminium’s, Lanjigarh unit, India’s premier producer of metallurgical grade alumina, has achieved a significant milestone in its endeavours to promote grassroots sports in Odisha, and thereby provide more opportunities for growth and progress to rural youths. Two students from the Vedanta Archery Training Initiative have now helped the state emerge victorious in the inaugural edition of the Jayanti Khel Mahotsav 2023, a national level archery competition held at Bhubaneshwar recently.

Their win is especially significant, as this is the first time in seven years that Odisha has secured a medal at a national-level archery competition. Sanjaya Majhi and Bikram Majhi, the students from Vedanta’s Archery Training Initiative, were part of Odisha’s eight member contingent. They competed with determination against over 150 archers from 28 states between 9 – 12 June. The efforts of Vedanta Lanjigarh’s archery students contributed to the state securing the Bronze medal, finishing 3^rd in the overall rankings for the men’s teams.

Sharing his delight on the achievement, Mr GG Pal, Dy. CEO – Alumina Business, Vedanta Limited, said, “Vedanta Lanjigarh dedicates a significant portion of its community development efforts to the advancement of sports at the grassroot level. The role of sports in aiding the holistic development of youths and endowing them with essential life skills is well-known. We enable this process by ensuring access to best-in-class training facilities that have repeatedly produced national and state-level champions in both archery and karate. I congratulate our students and the Odisha team for this remarkable achievement and believe it will inspire our communities’ youth to actively participate in sports.”

Shri Sampurnananda Das, Secretary, Odisha Archery Association, congratulated the students, “I would like to congratulate all the students who represented Odisha in the 1^st Jayanti Khel Mahotsav and were a part of this historic win. I would love to see them continuing their hard work and achieve greater accolades in life. I would also like to thank Vedanta for actively increasing participation of people in archery and providing them with proper training and equipment. They have successfully encouraged the youths of Kalahandi district to participate in sports, presenting them with different avenues for progress in life.”

Over 15 students from Vedanta Aluminium’s training program have represented Odisha at the national level and have bagged a total of 37 medals in various state-level competitions last year. The company has deployed multiple community development programs in the areas of education, healthcare, livelihood, grassroots sports and art & culture. Within the domain of sports, over 40 students are undergoing training in archery and 60 students in karate at the SSD High School, Lanjigarh, supported by Vedanta. The company provides them with quality equipment, professional coaches, scheduled training programs, and supports them for participating in various competitions.