Football tourneys
The council meeting of the Football Association of Odisha (FAO) was held on June 12 in Cuttack. The meeting finalised the dates for a host of upcoming football tournaments. The Sahani Cup for Senior Men’s Inter-district Club Championship will be held in Sambalpur and Bargarh from June 26. The FAO League will be held from July 20 at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. The Senior Women’s Inter-district Championship for the P.C. Behera Trophy will be held in Cuttack in September. The All India Kalinga Cup Football Tournament will be held in February 2017. The tentative budget for the tournaments was also passed in the meeting. The committee also approved the All India Football Federation's proposal of conducting the Junior Girls' National Football Championship in Cuttack in which 22 states will be taking part.
Chess champs
The three-day Odisha State Under-13 Open and Girls' Chess Championship concluded in Jajpur on June 13. Mahitosh Dey of Khurda and Ankita Sahoo of Cuttack scored six points each and emerged champions at the open and girls' events respectively. While local boy Pranab Kumar Patra was the runner-up in the open category, Shreya Smruti Mohanty from Khurda, who is a Woman Candiadate Master bagged the runners-up trophy in the girls' category. Both scored 5.5 points each. The top two players from both the categories will represent the state in forthcoming National (Under-13) Open and Girls’ Chess Championship 2016, scheduled in Gujarat from July 22 to 30.
Kho kho low
Odisha boys,’ girls’ and the senior teams performed abysmally at the 27th Sub-junior Boys’ and Girls’ Kho Kho Championship and Federation Cup Kho kho tournament played on the KIIT campus. The event was organised by the Odisha Kho kho Association and KIIT University. In the Girls’ sub-junior category, the Odisha team went down to Gujarat in the quarter-final by a close margin of 10-8 and were placed seventh in the tournament. In the boys’ sub-junior category, the local team could not beat Telangana in the pre-quarter final and was defeated by a narrow margin of 10-9 and were placed 9th. In the 27th Federation Cup, the Odisha team went down to Karnataka and Kerala in its first two league matches, while it won against Haryana in its final league match. But the team could not make it to the next round. Odia kho kho player Mandakini Majhi, who represented the country in the South Asian Games, was felicitated after the
tournament.
Rugby laurels
The women's team of the Bhubaneswar Rugby Football Club emerged champions at the Regional Women's Rugby 10-a-side Tournament held in Calcutta on June 13. Led by Hiramani Soren, the team defeated Calcutta Cricket & Football Club (CCFC) at the CCFC Ground. Subhalaxmi Barik guided Bhubaneswar to edge out host CCFC by 10-5. In the inaugural match, Bhubaneswar won defeated Midan Hazards of Calcutta 26-0. While Subhalaxmi scored two tries, her teammate Jyosthna Rani Nayak and Sasmita Maharana scored a try each. In the match against Young Rugby Club of Calcutta, Subhalaxmi and Jyosthna, scored a try each and the team scripted a 10-0 victory.
Shooting stars
The Gun For Glory Shooting Academy's Bhubaneswar centre bagged the third position in the first Inter Gun For Glory Premiere League held in Pune. Among the 12 centres across the country, the Bhubaneswar centre was awarded with a Hammerly AP20 pistol. It is a German-made pistol and guests from the Gun For Glory Premiere League, who had come to the event, handed the pistol to the Odisha team. Performance-wise Sabitri Kasta of Bhubaneswar won a bronze medal in pistol shooting. The premier league like cricket is meant to popularise shooting in the country.
Awards galore
All-rounder Govind Poddar bagged the 24th Saheed Sporting-Maruti Estate Cricketer of the Year award at a function held on June 12. The Rourkela boy was quite elated with the award and dedicated it to his late coach Harmohan Praharaj. The award carried a cash of Rs 31,000 along with a trophy. Poddar had scored 555 runs in 15 innings in eight matches of the Ranji Trophy last year. Madhusmita Behera, who is a member of the Odisha women's team received the women cricketer of the year award. The award included a cash award of Rs 21,000 and a trophy. Eminent sand artist Sudarshan Patnaik gave away the awards.
Cricketers of tomorrow
The Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) has chosen as many as 184 cricketers from across the state to take part in the selection cum coaching camp to be held from June 16 in Cuttack. The teams for the Ranji Trophy and the Under-23 cricket team would be selected from these players. The cricketers have been asked to report on June 16 to their respective coaches at the OCA academy. The players were selected on the basis of their performance in the inter-district cricket championships. While East Coast Railway has 10 players, 18 cricketers have been picked up from Bhubaneswar. Cuttack has the maximum number of players selected for the coaching camp with 25 cricketers set to take part in the selection procedure.
