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Rugby, badminton, football and chess championships made it an exciting week for sports lovers in the state. However, some of the teams from the state taking part in national-level events and tournaments also fared badly, much to the disappointment of the fans
Champs of 64 squares
Rutumbhara Bidhar of Khurda and Sidhant Mohapatra of Bhadrak won the titles in the Odisha State Sub-Junior (U-15) Chess Championship in the Girls and Open category, respectively.
The championship was organised at St Xavier High School, Dimbo, in Keonjhar.
Tanuja Sahu, Smaraki Mohanty and Akhankya Kabi stood second, third and fourth, respectively in the girls’ championship while Bhaskar, Ashirwad and Rakesh claimed the respective positions in the open category.
Powerlifting hopes
The Odisha team has left for Kerala to participate in the National Senior Powerlifting Championship to be held from September 3 to 8. The team includes 13 male and one female lifter and two officials. “Sangeeta Singh is the only woman lifter in the team,” said Odisha Powerlifting Association secretary Hari Patnaik.
Badminton blow
In the East Zone Badminton Championship, the team from Bengal emerged champions in most categories. The event was held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Cuttack. Hosted by the Odisha State Badminton Association, around 120 shuttlers from Odisha, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bengal and Bihar took part in the junior (boys and girls) and senior (men and women) categories. The Bengal shuttlers claimed titles in the women, girls and boys categories. Their players had also made it to the finals of the men’s events but Uttar Pradesh snatched the title. Odisha’s best performance was reaching the semi-final in the men’s event.
Willow talk
The state cricket team’s run ended at the All India Buchi Babu Invitation Tournament on at Chennai, after they lost to Mumbai in the quarter finals.
The team had earlier lost to Hyderabad and then bounced back by winning against Maharashtra. In the two day quarter final match, Odisha was given a target of 258 by the Mumbai team.
But the state team could only manage to score 145 all-out.
On track
The 24th East Zone Junior Athletic Championships is being organised in Calcutta from September 4 to 6. Sixty-five athletes (31 boys and 34 girls) are representing the state at the event. The team left for Calcutta on Sunday. Coach Bimal Chandra Sethi and managers Chita Ranjan Mohapatra and Saudamini Dash are accompanying the players.
Rugby loss
Pune-A girls won the Division-One title in the Senior National Women’s Rugby Sevens Tournament that concluded at the Kalinga Stadium on Sunday.
They defeated the KISS team in humiliating fashion (32-0) in the final.
Though the KISS girls put up a good show till the final, Pune-A totally outplayed them on Sunday. Young Rugby Club, Calcutta, won the Division-One Plate final while Bangalore claimed the Division-Two title and Jharkhand won the Division-Two Plate final.
The super league round of the Football Association of Odisha (FAO) First-Division League was held at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack last week.
YVCG got a walkover from Chauliaganj Club while Jaydurga Club lost to Sunshine Club (1-0). Sports Hostel won against SBI in the match on Sunday scoring 4-0 while Radhagobinda Club defeated Morning Club (2-1). On Monday, Bidanasi Club’s match against Jobra Durga Club ended in a 1-1 draw while Rising Star Club won its match against YVCG (3-2).
In another development, FAO has selected five women football players for the ensuing National U-19 girls’ selection-cum-trial camp to be held at Gandhinagar for the forthcoming AFC U-19 Girls Asian Cup 2013 Qualifiers Round 1. The selected players are Tikina Samal and Subhaprava Rout from Sports Hostel, Bhubaneswar, and Sinulata Sahoo, Rachita Malik and Kausalya Barik from Kendrapada.
