Run feast
Newly appointed state captain Nataraj Behera’s double century helped Odisha dominate in their Ranji match against Haryana. In the match held at Lahli in Haryana, Behera's unbeaten 255 and Ranjit Singh’s century helped Odisha reach a mammoth score of 529 for six wickets in reply to Haryana's 216. In their second innings, Haryana were trailing by 267 till the close of play and had lost just one wicket on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Odia boy Subham Nayak secured a place in the Indian Under-19 team for the One Day Tri-series that will take place in Calcutta later this week.
Total tackle
In the ongoing first division league hosted by the Football Association of Odisha (FAO), some lacklustre matches were being played earlier this week. In the match between Sports Authority of India (SAI) Training Centre team against Jay Durga Club, the match ended in a draw with the final score at 1-1. The goal scorer for SAI Training Centre was Lakhai Murmu while Prasanta Behera bulged the ball into the net for Jay Durga Club. In the match between Sunrise Club and OGP Club, Sunrise was declared as the winner since OGP Club gave a walk over. The annual football league began last week and will continue till December.
Sports meet
The annual state-level Women’s Sports Competition is under way at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. Competitions in handball, athletics, tennis and hockey are still on while basketball, badminton, swimming and table tennis were hosted in Cuttack from November 7 to 10. Puri hosted the gymnastics event from November 12 to 13. The final leg of the competition will be hosted in Balasore for volleyball, kho kho and kabaddi. There are 548 participants from 30 districts taking part at the event. The competition is organised as part of the Union government’s Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan (RGKA) scheme.
Smash & jab
The 21st NTPC Inter-district and Odisha State Table Tennis Championship commenced on Sunday at the NTPC Recreation Centre in Kaniha. Hosted under the aegis of the Odisha State Table Tennis Association (OSTTA), the events at the championship included the junior boys’ team semi-finals where Cuttack A beat YMCA Cuttack 3-0 and Rourkela Steel Plant(RSP), Rourkela defeated Bhubaneswat Table Tennis Association 3-1.
In the youth boys’ singles, Bikash Singh and Janmajay Moharana of RSP, Kishan Prusty from Bhubaneswar, Cuttack boys S.R. Pati, Sudeep Behera, K. Kartik and M. Eswar Rao and Sambhav Sarangi from Khurda entered the quarter-finals.
Perfect score
Over 250 shooters from all over the state displayed their shooting skills at the 5th Odisha State Shooting Championship that began at the new range inaugurated in Kalinga Stadium recently. Some of the events of the championship were also hosted at the Utkal Karate School in Bhubaneswar. Some of the champions at the event include Prasanta Mohapatra in the 50metre 0.22 rifle men’s senior, Palash Sahoo in men's senior 25metre pistol, Lipsa Sethi in 50metre 0.22 rifle women’s senior. There were various other events in the junior as well as veteran categories.
