Weightlifter Padma Shree Smt. Karnam Malleswari, the first Indian woman to win a medal at the Olympics, gave away the top awards in the concluding ceremony of the “Inter-company Powerlifting, Weightlifting & Bodybuilding Championship – 2022” at Coal India Ltd. headquarters in Kolkata on Wednesday. Shri. S. N. Tiwary, Director (Marketing) – CIL & Shri. B. Veera Reddy, Director (Technical) – CIL were present on the occasion.
Coal India Subsidiary Western Coalfields Ltd. (WCL) secured the position of winner and South-Eastern Coalfields Ltd. (SECL) secured the position of runner up of the Championship. Smt. Sumita Laha from Coal India Hq. clinched the title of “Strong Woman of Coal India” while Shri. P. K. Pradhan form Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd. (MCL) bagged the title of “Strong Man of Coal India”. Shri. Vishal Kashyap from SECL bagged the title of “Best Lifter of Coal India” and Shri. Tirtha Gopal Bhandari from Eastern Coalfields Ltd. (ECL) was crowned as “Mr. Coal India”.
Speaking on the occasion, Smt. Malleswari congratulated Coal India for organising such a grand sports event for their employees. She said that sports make us strong both physically and mentally and with more availability of infrastructure and coaching budding Indian sports talents can do wonders in national and international events.
Shri. Vijay Munishwar, the “Dronacharya Lifetime Awardee” and a Civil Engineer working in the Coal India Subsidiary WCL, was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the promotion of Para Powerlifting in India.
This three-day long Championship was started on April 25, 2022 in which over 200 participants from across Coal India Ltd. Headquarters & its Subsidiaries and The Singareni Collieries Company Ltd. (SCCL) participated to clinch the titles for 33 sports events.
