Bhubaneswar: The Special Olympics Bharat-Odisha athletes who participated in the recently held National Championship in Cycling and Roller-skating at Amity University and Scottish High Public School in Haryana came back to Odisha with bag full of medals. 
To commemorate the prized performance of the specially-abled athletes at the national level, Police Commissioner Saumendra Priyadarshi met and felicitated each one of the athletes, at a small function held here on Tuesday.
To list the medals, Debasish bagged a Gold in 2 km road race and a Bronze in 5 km road race in cycling while first-timer Siddharth made it big with a Bronze in 10 km and 5 km road race in cycling.
Dadhichi, the master roller-skater won Silver in 500 mtrs and 1000 mtrs while Sipra Priyadarshini won Silver medals in 100 mtrs and 300 mtrs events in Rollerskating.
Similarly, Priya Ranjan received Ribbons for being placed in the 5th position in 300 mtrs and 500 mtrs events in Rollerskating at Special Olympics Bharat.
The aforementioned event was organised at Open Learning Systems in collaboration with the sponsors of the Odisha team, Bharati Rath Memorial Academy of Special Human Abilities (BRM-ASHA).
Police Commissioner Saumendra Priyadarshi felicitated all the athletes and their coaches Biren Jena and Geeta Panda. While praising the athletes and coaches for their achievements, Priyadarshi stressed on the need for providing a level-playing field and accepting the persons with disabilities.
“It is very important and the duty of the society to treat them with dignity and as equals,” the Twin City CP added.
Among others, Mahendra Mallik, former Director, OPEPA; Pradyumna Chaudhury, DGM, SIDBI; Dr Pratap Rath, Secretary, OLS; Kasturi Mohapatra, former SCPD; Prakash Rath, Area Director, SOB-Odisha; Pradipta Rath, vice president, BRM-ASHA; Arpita Mohapatra, State Program Coordinator, SOB-Odisha, Gitanjali Bastia, Advisor, Mission Shakti and Snehanjali Mohanty, former Member, Odisha Women Commission, were present at the event.
The athletes, coaches and other stakeholders were thrilled to receive the accolades during the function.
