13 Odisha Competitors to Represent India at WorldSkills Competition in Shanghai

Bhubaneswar: Thirteen young competitors from Odisha are set to represent India at the 48th WorldSkills Competition 2026 in Shanghai, China, as nearly 1,400 participants from 70 countries compete across 64 skill categories.

The global competition will be held from September 22 to 27 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai, bringing together young skilled professionals from across the world to compete in their respective disciplines.

The Odisha contingent earned its place in the Indian team following the IndiaSkills Competition 2025–26 held in New Delhi, where Odisha topped the medal tally with the highest number of medals. The top-performing competitors from the national competition were subsequently selected for the WorldSkills team.

The 13 competitors from Odisha are participating in categories ranging from landscape gardening and web technologies to robotics, water technology, graphic design, restaurant service, patisserie and industrial control.

The Odisha participants include Debasish Gouda and Prasad Kumar Das in Landscape Gardening; Priyanshu De in Web Technologies; Rasmita Kaur Hanspal in Hotel Reception; Debasish Panda and Aditya Prakash in Autonomous Mobile Robotics; Pitambaram Rishikesh in Water Technology; Rajeev Lochan Chand in Graphic Design; Jagannath Mishra in Industrial Mechanics; Jhansirani Rout in Restaurant Service; Krishnanjali Sahoo in Patisserie and Confectionery; Parshuram Majhi in CNC Turning; and Sumit Bhujabal in Industrial Control.

Among the state’s representatives, Gouda and Das, students of Government ITI, Berhampur, are competing for India in Landscape Gardening. Both won gold medals in the same category at the IndiaSkills 2025–26 competition in New Delhi.

Their preparation for the international competition included intensive training sessions in Ahmedabad and Noida under the guidance of their mentors. They are now part of the Indian contingent that has travelled to Shanghai via Bangkok from New Delhi.

The WorldSkills selection process involves multiple stages, with participating countries conducting regional and national competitions to identify their strongest competitors before selecting their teams for the international event.

For Odisha, the Shanghai competition marks another opportunity for its skilled youth to compete on a global platform after their strong showing at the national-level IndiaSkills competition.

Earlier, competitors who excelled at OdishaSkills 2025–26 and IndiaSkills 2025–26 were recognised with the Chief Minister’s Skill Award at a state-level ceremony organised on World Youth Skills Day.

With the WorldSkills Competition beginning on September 22, the 13-member Odisha contingent will now compete alongside participants from across the world, carrying the Indian team’s hopes in their respective skill categories.