Have a look at the biography and height of Nilakanta Sharma
Nilakanta Sharma is an Indian Olympic hockey player who accused the Madhya Pradesh sports department of not awarding him their promised cash award, find out more about him below.
The MP sports had previously promised and award for his contribution to the team’s bronze medal victory at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Who is Manipur India hockey team player Nilakanta Sharma who won bronze medal at the Olympics, biography, age, height, parents and state
Nilakanta was recently a part of the Indian men’s hockey team that won bronze at the Paris 2024 Olympics Games.
Nilakanta Sharma labels accusation against MP sports department
Indian Olympic hockey star Nilakanta Sharma has come out to accuse the Madhya Pradesh sports department of failing to award him his promised cash prize. Sharma has written to MP govt, expressing his disappointment over their failure to fulfil the commitment. The sports department had previously announced a cash reward of ₹1 crore each for two players from MP Hockey Academy — Vivek Sagar and Neelakanta. The duo was both a part of the Indian Men’s hockey team that won a bronze at Tokyo 2020.
According to Neelakanta’s lawyer Okendro Singh, while Neelakanta wasn’t given the money, Sagar got Rs 1 crore and was made a DSP. Singh stated that despite making repeated attempts to communicate with the govt, there was no reply. As such, they had to take legal action against the “injustice”.
While the Director-sports Ravi Gupta did not respond, deputy director, BS Yadav stated:
“Both Neelakanta and Vivek were invited for a felicitation ceremony. Vivek attended the function but Neelakanta went to his home state, Manipur. His state felicitated him with a job and money. As he has got his rewards from his home state, there was no point in giving him the same from MP.”
Nilakanta Sharma bio
Nilakanta Sharma is an Indian hockey player who was born on May 2, 1995 in the Imphal East district. He currently plays as a midfielder for the Indian men’s hockey team as well as for India Youth Affairs and Sports Manipur at the club level. Interestingly, Nilakanta is the son of a priest and comes from a place where football dominates above all sports. Despite this, he chose to work towards making a career as a hockey player.
Age and height
Nilakanta Sharma is currently 29 years old and stands at a height of 1.63 m
Awards
Nilankan is a recipient of the Arjuna Award for Hockey.
Career and achievements
Neelakanta Sharma started out his journey in hockey from 2003 with the Posterior Hockey Academy Manipur until 2011. He eventually left home at 16, to play for under 17 tournament and enrolled at Bhopal Hockey Academy. He played as a midfielder and was renowned for his “Y dodge” against the opposite defenders.
By 2014, Sharma was playing for the Western Railways in the Super Division League. That same year, he got selected for the national junior team for the 2014 Sultan of Johor Cup. It was his first national team call-up and first international cup, and India won the tournament beating Great Britain. After the world cup win, he got drafted by Dabbang Mumbai of the Hockey India League in the following season.
Sharma was also part of the Indian squad that managed to win the 2016 Men’s Hockey Junior World Cup. Sharma eventually made his senior national team debut in July 2017, against of Belgium during India’s Europe tour. He also represented India A at the Australia Hockey League later that year. Nilakanta later got named as a stand by for the 2017 Hockey World League final in Bhubaneswar. Following which he featured in squads for the Champions Trophy in Netherlands and the 2018 Asian Games.
He was notably a part of the Indian hockey team that won a bronze at the Tokyo Olympics. Neelakanta Sharma finally won a gold medal at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou. He was recently a part of the Indian Men’s hockey team that won a bronze at the recently concluded Paris 2024 Olympic Games.