Devidutta Panda from Odisha to scale Mt Dhaulagiri, the seventh highest peak in the world 

Karate medals for Odisha girls 

Vadra Satpathy of Bhubaneswar won two gold medals in the girls’ kata and 30kg kumite events at the 29th State Junior Karate Championship hosted at Utkal Karate School recently. Around 400 players from across the state took part in the events inaugurated by mayor Ananta Narayan Jena. The selected players will take part in the national level championship of the event to be hosted in New Delhi from May 12 to14.

FIDE fame

Chess coaches from the state, Ranjan Mohanty, Sataya Ranjan Mohanty and Gourahari Mohapatra, have been selected as FIDE instructors. FIDE is the governing body of international chess competitions.

The All-Odisha Chess Association president I.M. Shekhar Sahu congratulated them. He said young talents would get the opportunity to master the game under their guidance. Another chess talent of the state, Aparajita Gochhikar, recently became the national instructor. 

Adventure

Odisha mountaineer Devidutta Panda is set to conquer Mt Dhaulagiri, the seventh highest peak in the world with a height of 8,167 metres, in Nepal. Panda left for the expedition on April 15 from New Delhi. 

Twelve mountaineers have taken part in the expedition. Panda, who is also the Indian Air Force Wing Commander, has scaled 14 mountain peaks around the globe including Mt Everest. 

Carrom

The inter-district carrom championship hosted in Cuttack concluded on April 16. Cuttack-B emerged champion defeating Cuttack-A by 3-0. Earlier, the winning team had defeated Bhadrak by 2-1 while Cuttack-A had beaten Cuttack-3 by 3-0. Goutam Bhol was adjudged the best player of the tournament. 

Training camp

A women’s football training camp was inaugurated on April 17 at Unit-IX Girls’ High School ground in Bhubaneswar. The camp is being hosted by Urmila Das Football Academy.  Football player Raj Kumar is training the participants.

Athletics 

About 10 players from the state will take part in the 14th National Youth Athletics Championship to be held in Hyderabad from April 21 to 23. The Odisha team, consisting of six boys and four girls athletes, will take part in long jump, hurdles, medley relay, javelin and running events of 100mtr, 400mtr and 200mtr. 

Kabaddi boost

Society for Nature, Education and Health of Salia Sahi slum organised a women’s kabaddi match on the occasion of Odia New Year. Two women’s kabaddi teams took part in the event. Kalinga Stadium team defeated Unit-9 team by one point. The objective of organising the sporting event was to inculcate a spirit of self-esteem among the marginalized youths of urban slums.