Hon’ble Petroleum Minister felicitates BPCL’s Birendra Lakra
16 Oct 2014 | BPCL Update
Golden days are back with India’s National Sport – Hockey. Indian team emerged victorious winning the Gold Medal at the Incheon Asian Games held at South Korea in 2014. The victory was even sweeter as it came against arch rivals Pakistan whom India had lost earlier in the group stage. It is after a gap of 16 years that India has won the Gold medal at the Asian Games, the last being at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games.
Birendra Lakra is from village Lachhada under Bonai subdivision of Sundergarh District, Odisha. He has been a consistent performer in the Indian Hockey team and has thwarted many forwards from rival teams from scoring a goal. He has been like a rock of Gibraltar in the Indian team’s defence. Originally a product of the Rourkela Steel plant’s SAIL Hockey Academy, Lakra was first included in the Indian Junior team for the Singapore tour in 2007. There has been no looking back since then as he went on to represent India in various International events including the World Cup of Hockey, Champions Trophy, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and also at the London Olympics in 2012. Birendra Lakra is employed with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited ( BPCL) as Assistant Manager.
The Hon. Minister MOP & NG Mr Dharmendra Pradhan, at a glittering function held at Bhubaneswar, has felicitated this renowned hockey player of Odisha, for his outstanding contribution in achieving Gold Medal at the XVII Asian Games – 2014. Hon. Minister applauded Mr. Lakra for his great performance and mentioned that even coming from a remote place like Sundergarh, Mr. Lakra has brought accolades not only to Odisha but to the entire nation through his outstanding performance in the field of Sports. Hon. Minister also acknowledged the contribution of Bharat Petroleum towards the development of Sports Activities in the country. On this occasion, Hon. Minister suggested to BPCL authorities to carry out all necessary development work for Sri Lakra’s Village Lachhada to make it an ideal village in all respects.
The function was also attended by Hon. Head Retail East, Mr. Siddhartha Banerjee and other officers of BPCL.