Brilliant performances by Odia hockey players and athletes at national-level events made it a cheerful week. Footballers proved their mettle at a national championship and the shooting and powerlifting teams left for other states to participate in upcoming events
Goal post
The Sambalpur Football Academy emerged runners-up at a national-level football championship recently. Held at Nahan in Himachal Pradesh, the Sambalpur team faced the Mohun Bagan U-14 team in the finals of the 1st ONGC Himachal Pradesh Football Festival. They lost 0-2.
Earlier, the team from the state had won against Prayag United from Calcutta and Yamunanagar Football Academy of Haryana. In the Football Association of Odisha (FAO) First Division League on at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack, a new format is being followed for the Super League round since September 9.
The super league matches between Group X (Morning Club, East Coast Railway, Jobra Durga Club, Rising Student Club, Sports Hostel and Radha Raman Club) and Group Y (Rising Star Club, Sunrise Club, Radha Govinda Club, Odisha Police, YVCG and Sports Authority of India) will continue till September 26 followed by the semi-finals on September 28 and final on September 30.
Get on board
The Odisha State Under-13 chess championship is scheduled to be held from September 15 to 17 at the Hall of Chess in Barabati Stadium. The Cuttack District Chess Association is organising the event. The top two players in the open selection and in the girls section will represent the state in the forthcoming National Under-13 Open and Girls event at Multipurpose Indoor Stadium, Periamet, Chennai, from October 12 to 21.
Power to Odisha
Odisha has been declared champions in the 38th National Senior Powerlifting Championship held in Kozhikode, Kerala, on September 7 and 8. Eshwar Machhkund of Odisha was declared strongman of India 2012.
An 18-member team from Odisha (17 men and one woman) took part in the competition. Team Odisha was declared champion in the unequipped category.
Coaching champs
The 2nd International Master Coaching camp for preparing boys and girls of Under-9 and Under-15 categories is on at OAS Bhavan, Kharavela Nagar, Bhubaneswar.
The camp started on September 9 and will continue till September 12. International master Swayams Mishra and senior coach Satyaranjan Pattnaik are coaching the junior-level players. Camp organiser All-Odisha Chess Association is hopeful that these junior-level teams will perform well in the forthcoming national events.
On your marks
Six shooters from the state will take part in the Gun For Glory national shooting championship that will begin at the Balewadi Shooting Range in Pune from September 12.
Gouri Mohanty, Lipsa Sethi, Ashis Nayak, Deepak Mishra, Anand Jena and Smaran Shankar Mishra will take part in various events including 10-metre air rifle and pistol shooting, said an official of the Odisha Rifle Association.
