Luck runs out
The Odisha team bowed out of the Junior National Girls’ Football Championship in the semi-final, losing to Haryana. In another semi-final match, Manipur eliminated Goa 6-0. Manipur clinched the championship title by defeating Haryana 4-1 goals at the final. At the concluding ceremony, state sports minister Sudam Marandi gave away the prizes. Around 22 states took part in the championship hosted by the Football Association of Odisha (FAO) at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack, which began on July 1 and concluded on July 17. Odisha, which finished runners-up last year, played six matches in the tournament this year. They won four matches and lost two.
Shradhanjali Samantray, an international football player from the state, has been selected to coach the National Under-16 Girls' football team to be trained for the upcoming Asian Football Confederation Cup. All India Football Federation (AIFF) announced her name on July 18, because of her commendable performance in previous years. Earlier, Shradhanjali had been appointed as assistant coach of the Indian Under-16 team thrice. Shradhanjali will attend the qualifying tournament camp to be held in Patiala, Punjab, from July 20 to August 28.
Hits & misses
Biplab Samantray will lead the 16-member state cricket team in the K. Thimmappiah Memorial Tournament to be held in Bangalore from July 22 to August 18.
The Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) announced his name on July 17. Samantray is a right-handed middle-order batsman and a right-arm medium pace bowler who made his first-class debut in the 2010-11 Ranji Trophy against Baroda. Govind Poddar has been appointed Biplab’s deputy and the team will leave for Bangalore on July 20. Other noted members of the squad include Santanu Mishra, Sandipa Patnaik, Abinash Saha, Abhilash Mallick and Pratik Das.
Top serves
Odia tennis player Ansu Kumar Bhuyan bagged the second AITA Men’s Singles title of his career, when he defeated Rithvik Anand of Tamil Nadu by 7-5, 6-3 at the final of the Proserve-AITA 50K National Ranking Tournament held in Coimbatore on July 15. It was a close first set when scores were level at five-games all. Bhuyan worked hard on the return of serves that paid off in the crucial points. He wrapped up the set with his big serves. In the second set, he had full control over his opponent. He won his maiden AITA title at the same venue earlier this month.
Checkmate
The 9th Schools’ Open Chess Championship was held on July 17 in Bhubaneswar. Amrutanshu Priyadarshan of DAV Public School, Unit-VIII, emerged champion by scoring 6.5 points. Around 73 players from 16 schools took part in the daylong seven-round tournament hosted by DAV Public School, Kalinga Nagar. Diptimayee Sahoo of Saraswati Sisu Vidyamandir and Amrutanshu Mohapatra of DAV, Unit-VIII, scored six points each and finished second and third respectively. Aditya Patra, Aryan Rajguru, Piyush Kumar Chinara and Smruti Ranjan Swain were adjudged best player in the Under-8, Under-10, Under-12 and Under-14 categories.
Cuttack’s cricket glory
Barabati Stadium in Cuttack will host the India-England One Day International (ODI) in January next year. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) recently announced the dates and venues for the upcoming home series against England. The series consists of five Tests, three ODIs and three T20s. The second ODI between the two teams will be played at Barabati on January 19. OCA secretary Ashirvad Behera said restrictions would be put in place on carrying water bottles into the stadium during the match due to a fracas that took place the last time Barabati hosted an international match between India and South Africa in October last year.
