Odia defender Dipsan Tirkey has been selected for the 18-member Indian junior men's hockey team, while 12 archers from Odisha bagged six medals, including one gold and three silvers, at the 9th Mini National Archery Championship.
Anniversary run
Cuttack hosted a marathon for school students to commemorate the birth anniversary of first chief minister of Odisha — Harekrushna Mahatab. The Odisha Olympic Association, along with Harekrushna Mahatab Jayanti Committee, organised the event on the occasion of the 117th birth anniversary of the freedom fighter. Around 400 participants in four groups — senior and junior in both boys’ and girls’ — took part in the competition that started from the Barabati Fort. The winners were given cash awards of Rs 3000, Rs 2000 and Rs 1000 for first, second and third position, respectively. Besides, certificates and trophies were also handed over to them by the guests.
Laudable feat
Defending champion Ashutosh Padhy became the first Odisha player to hit a century break in the league round match of the 23rd State Senior Snooker Championship held at Vintage Club in Bhubaneswar on Sunday. Padhy hit a total table clearance break of 126 against Sarada Behera in the process 2 frames to 0. He recently finished among the top eight contenders in the World Junior Snooker Championship-2016 in Belgium. He is also the junior national champion in both billiards and snooker.
Weights abound
Three national-level weightlifting competitions are going to be held in Bhubaneswar next week. The 12th Sub-junior Boys’ and Girls’, 53rd Junior Men’s and 29th Junior Women’s Weightlifting championships will be organised at the Utkal Karate School from November 29 to December 5. The championships are organised by the Indian Weightlifting Association and Odisha Weightlifting Association. A team of around 34 players from Odisha are going to take part in the event. The state officials hope that the local team will give its best and perform well. Players will be selected to represent the country in the upcoming international events based on their performances here.
Rural push
In an attempt to promote rural sports events and encourage hidden talents of schoolchildren, the sports council of NTPC organised the 14th Rural Sports Meet at Kaniha during the weekend. Around 400 schoolchildren, both boys and girls, from 29 schools of Kaniha block took part in the two-day meet. The event was inaugurated by Talcher sub-collector S.B. Mishra, who emphasised that such events provide a perfect platform for rural students to develop their hidden talents and encourage them to explore new grounds. A number of sporting events were hosted at the meet.
Poor show
The Odisha women’s cricket team had a bad week as they lost all their four matches in the Inter-Zonal Under-19 Women’s Tournament. Odisha went down to Bengal in their fourth match at Nimpur ground in Cuttack, as the visitors went past the 84 runs scored by the home team. Bengal chased the total within 28 overs and lost two. Prior to this match, the Odisha women’s team lost to Assam by 68 runs, Tripura by 20 runs and Jharkhand by 162 runs. With the four losses, Odisha remained at the bottom of the points table.
Archery medals
A 12-member archery team from Odisha bagged as many as six medals, including one gold and three silvers in the 9th Mini National Archery Championship held at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh last week. Salge Soren won a gold in the girls’ 20metre Indian round, two silvers in Olympic and team rounds and one bronze in overall competition, while Jaylaxmi Mallick and Champa Kanhaga were other two members of the silver winning girls’ team. Arjun Khara won a silver medal in the boys’ recurve overall competition, while Bagan Banhara pocketed a bronze in the boys’ Olympic round.
Clean smash
Odisha’s Pramod Bhagat, the para badminton world champion, has been selected in the Indian 25-member team by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) to take part in the Asian Para Badminton Championship, which began in Bejing, China from Tuesday and will end on November 28. Pramod, hailing from Atabira, is continuing his training at Nikil Kenetkar Badminton Academy along with his doubles partner Sukant Kadam of Maharashtra. Pramod has won seven gold, two silver and four bronze medals at international events that includes three world championship titles.
Clinical moves
Manas Ranjan Parida emerged champion at the State Open Rapid Chess Championship, which concluded at Khurda by gathering six points. N.S. Ranjan, Akhila Chandra Majhee, Netrananda Das and M. Ranjan scored five points each and bagged the following ranks. The event was hosted by the Odisha State Chess Association. Pratyush Raj Panda, Jagadish Kumar Ghadai and Om Swastik Mishra received the Under-9, Under-12 and Under-15 age group titles respectively and Preetiparna Prusti was adjudged the best women player.
Felicitations
The state sports and youth services department recently felicitated swimmer Pratyasa Ray, chess player Padmini Rout, weightlifter Jhili Dalabehera and the mountaineering team which scaled Mt. Rudugaira. The players brought glory to the state in a number of national and international events. Sports minister Sudam Marandi, secretary Visal Dev, director Ananta Kishor Jena, mountaineers Bachendri Pal and Premalata Agrawal were present at the event. Padmini Rout emerged champion at the 43rd National Women’s Premier Chess Championship held at Delhi. She bagged the title for the third time. Odia girl Jhili Dalabehera bagged a bronze medal in the 48kg weight category of the Youth Commonwealth Weightlifting Championship held at Malaysia, while Pratyasa grabbed gold medals in the Under-15 girls’ events at the six-day South Asian Aquatic Championships held in Sri Lanka.
Hockey tourney
Odia defender Dipsan Tirkey has been selected in the 18-member Indian junior men’s hockey team for the Hockey Junior World Cup announced by Hockey India on Friday. The event is scheduled to be held at Lucknow from December 8 to 18. India will begin their campaign against Canada on December 8 and will face England on December 10 and play South Africa on December 12 as part of their Pool D league matches.
