Bhubaneswar, Dec 24 (IANS): Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday felicitated the para badminton players who won medals at the recent Tokyo Paralympics.

Patnaik felicitated gold medallists Pramod Bhagat and Krishna Nagar; bronze medallist Manoj Sarkar; Paralympians Tarun Dhillion, Parul Parmar and Palak Kholi; and Arjuna awardee Raj Kumar.

He also felicitated Deepa Malik, President, Paralympic Committee of India; Prabhakar Rao, Chairman, Para-Badminton India; Gaurav Khanna -- Head coach, Para-Badminton Indian team, Shiba Prasad Das -- Head coach, Odisha Para-Badminton.

Deepa thanked the Chief Minister for his initiatives for development of sports in the country. She lauded Odisha as a model for sports development and for support from the state to sportspersons and para-sportspersons.

Congratulating the players on their spectacular performance in Tokyo, Patnaik assured all support for para-sports events and to the para-sportspersons. He extended his best wishes to all participants in the ongoing fourth National Para-Badminton Championship.

The championship started in Odisha on December 24 and will end on December 26. More than 400 para-badminton players from across the country are participating in this event, which is the largest so far in this field.