Renowned sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has won gold medal in an international sand art championship in Russia. He made sand art — “Mahatma Gandhi sculpture for non-violence and peace” — in the contest. The week-long sand sculpture competition had started on April 21 at Kolomenskoye, Moscow. Twenty top sculptors from across the world displayed their sculptures.

He has participated in more than 50 international sand sculpture championships across the world and won many awards for the country. He has also got the fourth highest civilian award Padma Shri in 2014. Mr Pattnaik runs a sand art school at Puri beach in Odisha.

After winning the award, Pattnaik called on India’s ambassador in Russia Pankaj Saran, who congratulated him on his accomplishment.

• Pattnaik started sculpting images on sand since the age of seven and has designed hundreds of sand art.
• He was the brand ambassador of NALCO, India.
• He established “The Golden Sand Art Institute” which is first of its nature in India. His sculptures include environmental crisis, famous festivals, national integrity and religious tolerance.
• His sand sculpture on Black Taj Mahal earned him accolades all over the world.
• He has won many national and international awards for his creative designs and has recorded his name in the World records. In 2015 Sudharshan patnaik’s Santa Claus sculpture on 29 December 2015 found a place in limca book of records. He took 22 hours to build this sculpture on 24 Dec 2015 and it will be active till 1 January 2016.