Bhubaneswar, Sept. 19: Odia sprinter Purnima Hembram has bagged a gold medal in the women's pentathlon event at the ongoing fifth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat in Turkmenistan. She collected an aggregate of 4,062 points from five events.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik congratulated Purnima on winning gold in the event. He wrote on his Twitter account: 'Congratulations Purnima Hembram on winning gold in the Pentathlon event at @Ashgabat_2017. We're proud of you.'

Expressing her happiness over the feat, she said: 'This is a very big event and winning a medal here is like making my country and state proud.'

A product of SAI training centre at Sundargarh, Purnima had earlier brought laurels to the state by winning bronze medal in women's heptathlon at the Asian Athletics Championships held this year at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.

Recently, ace women sprinters from the state, Jauna Murmu and Purnima Hembram, have been admitted in Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) to pursue higher education. Jauna and Purnima will pursue postgraduate and bachelors degree courses, respectively, from this academic session.

India is being represented by 203 athletes in 15 sports disciplines in the Games, touted as the second biggest multi-sporting event of the continent after the ASIAD.

Dutee Chand and Amiya Mallik from the state are also taking part in their respective 60m categories.

In another development, Nrusingha Charan Sahu, a youngster from the state, is all set to climb Mount Elbrus, the highest mountain in Europe. He will leave the state tomorrow, following which he will start his expedition from Moscow from September 23. 'We will travel around 10 people in a group, and we aim to reach the peak in 10 days,' he said.