Odisha Veteran Hockey Association, Rourkela, recently organised the second Saheed Blacius Alexander Kujur Memorial Hockey Tournament 2012 at the city’s Biju Patnaik Hockey Stadium. Around 32 teams of the region participated in this tournament. Young hockey players from various schools got a chance to interact with Micheal Kindo, former World Cup player and Olympian. Telegraph pictures

A plethora of sporting events concluded recently, while many more are on in the state keeping sportspersons busy. Recently, Odia players at national events also won many laurels

Bend it right

The super league rounds of the Football Association of Odisha (FAO) First Division League are on at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. The clash between Sports Hostel and Young Utkal Club on Sunday ended in a goalless draw while the Radha Gobinda Club won its match against Kishore Club (3-1). Through the super league matches between the 12 teams placed in two groups, top two teams will be selected from each group for the semi-finals.

Kings and queens

Fide Master Rakesh Kumar Jena won the 26th National U-11 Chess Championship-2012 that recently concluded in Jamshedpur. After the return of the team, All Odisha Chess Association felicitated the players.

The Odisha team for the tournament included Sankalp Baliarsingh, Sambit Panda, Ansuman Samal, Pranab Kumar Patra and Chintan Nayak for boys’ and Rutumbara Bidhar, Sovna Sonali Jena, Sweta Senapaty, Anisha Mishra and Ankita Sahoo for the girls’ events.

The first Keshabananda Das Memorial All India Open Rating Chess Championship, 2012, is on at the Empires Hotel in Bhubaneswar. The national championship features grandmasters Sriram Jha and Rajaram Laxman as well 10 international masters including Odia boys Swayams Mishra and Debashis Dash.

The Odisha State U-9 Chess Championship will be held August 31 to September 2 at the Ratna Mandap in Dhenkanal.

Racquet watch

Shuttlers from Cuttack ruled at the recently concluded State Badminton Championship. The highlight of the tournament was Cuttack girl Rutaparna Panda’s performance. She clinched both the U-17 and U-19 singles titles. Pramod Rana emerged the men’s champion while Gayatri Mishra won the women singles. Players from Cuttack, Balangir, Angul and Rourkela bagged the other titles. Organised at the Saheed Nagar Indoor Hall by the Odisha State Badminton Association, the event courted controversy with almost all players complaining about the rules followed by the authorities.

Clash of willows

The Sambalpur Zonal Cricket Academy of the Odisha Cricket Association was inaugurated last week at the V.S.S. Stadium, Sambalpur. Sovan Deb, coach (state U-19 team) is conducting a camp at the venue. The camp began on August 15 and is on till September 15. Meanwhile, the Odisha Team is going to participate in the All India Buchi Babu Invitation Tournament scheduled to begin from Tuesday in Chennai. Biplab Samantray will lead the team that is placed in Group A. They will face Hyderabad and Maharashtra in the league rounds.

Welcome support

The state sports and youth services department announced authorisation of the Odisha Paralympic Association, Special Olympic Bharat, Odisha Cricket Association for Blind, Odisha Chess Federation of Blind to conduct sports activities for the differently-abled in the state. The department also assured sanctioning of funds, scholarships and conducting sports meets to encourage differently-abled sportspersons. With help of the department, the Odisha Paralympic Association will conduct a national workshop for paralympic sportspersons in Bhubaneswar in September.

Rugby rage

The Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) B team won the School Tag Rugby Tournament conducted at Unit-VI Boys High School ground recently.

They defeated KIIT International School (18-15) in the final. KISS-A finished third winning against Venkateswar English Medium School (Chandrasekharpur) (13-12). The tournament was organised by Odisha Rugby Football Association and Tag Rugby Trust India.