Board game
Odia boy Debashish Das claimed the Rapid title while International Master K. Rathnakaran won the Blitz Championship in the National Rapid and Blitz Chess Championship 2015 organised by All India Chess Federation in association with Rourkela Steel Plant and Odisha Chess Association at the Rourkela Club. Around 90 players from across India took part in the tournament. The grand championship was hosted for the first time in the state.
In the World Women’s Team Chess Championship that was held in Chengdu in China, Odia girl Padmini Rout had a mixed performance. India is seeded fifth at the event where chess players from 10 countries are competing.
Great show
Odia athletes won as many as seven medals in the 19th Federation Cup Senior National Championship that concluded at Mangla Stadium in Mangalore on Monday.
The medals included four gold, two silver and one bronze. Sprinter Srabani Nanda grabbed two gold medals in the 100metre as well as 200metre. With her scintillating performance, Srabani qualified for the Asian Athletics Championship, which will be held in Wuhan, China.
Sprinter Dutee Chand won the silver medals in both the 100metre and 200metre sprint. Amiya Kumar Mallick and Purnima Hembram claimed the other two gold medals in men’s 100 metres and women’s heptathlon respectively. Mallick and Purnima, who secured the gold with 5,462 points, also qualified for the Asian Championship. Hammer thrower Sarita Singh bagged a bronze medal for the state.
Hockey high
Hockey players of the state gave fans plenty of reasons to celebrate with their all-round show. Hockey Gangpur-Odisha outshone Chandigarh Olympic Association 4-1 in the semi-finals of the 5th Junior Women’s National Hockey Championship (Division B) at Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh on Monday. Earlier, they had also drubbed Assam Hockey 6-0 in the opening match of Pool C on Sunday. Gangpur Odisha girls will be facing Hockey Patiala in the final.
Football fillip
The 21st Debabrat Kar Memorial Inter-school Football Tournament concluded recently in which Syed Seminary School emerged champions by defeating PM Academy 2-0 in the finals at the PM Academy ground. Also, the Inter-hotel Football Tournament 2015 concluded at the Satyabrata Stadium in Cuttack on April 30. In the Under-18 final played between Combind-A and Baripada Sports Hostel, the match ended in 1-1 draw at the regulation time. Combind-A team won the match by 5-3 in the tiebreaker. In the Under-15 final played between Keonjhar and Sundargarh, the latter won the match 2-1. Rashmi Ranjan Samantaray (district sports officer, Cuttack), football coaches Naba Mishra, Bijay Kanungo, Subodh Kumar Jena and Gangadhar Behera (coach in-charges of Sports Hostel) were present as guests of honour during the matches.
Cricket camp
Nataraj Behera, cricket player and director of the Rourkela Cricket Camp, is coaching around 90 players in a summer cricket camp at Sector-6, Rourkela Sports Ground. The coaching session began on May 1 and will end on May 16.
In a different development, Juvenile Club, Rising Student Club (both in Cuttack) and Pragati Sporting (Bhubaneswar) reached the semi finals of the 1st Sumit Bose Memorial Junior (Under-16) Cricket Tournament, held at the SCB Medical College ground in Cuttack.
Tennis triumph
Chinmay Pradhan and Santosh Kumar Mallik from Odisha won a title for the first time in All India Tennis Association (AITA) Tournament at Raipur, Chhattisgarh. Mallik and Pradhan beat Andhra Pradesh boys Taha Kapadia and Sivadeep Kosaraju 6-4, 4-6 10-4 in the final of the tournament and won Rs 1 lakh prize. Earlier, in the semi finals, the Odisha pair upset top seeds Abhijeet Tiwari and Garry Tokas 6-4, 6-2. Pradhan missed a title double, losing to Aditya Tewari from Madhya Pradesh 5-7, 0-6 in the singles final on Tuesday. In the semi finals, top-seeded Pradhan thrashed Sivadeep Kosaraju from Telangana 6-0, 6-2, while second seeded Tiwari prevailed over Taha Kapadia from Andhra Pradesh 6-3, 7-6.
