Champions all the way

Odia cricketers, footballers, weightlifters, karatekas and shooters gave remarkable performances at various national events held last week. A number of other events are also lined up to keep sports lovers in the state busy. The Telegraph turns the spotlight on these events

Football glory

The eighth All-India Biju Patnaik Invitational Football Tournament was recently held at the Ispat stadium. Sports Authority Of India (SAI) Training Centre, Cuttack, emerged champions. Beating IFA Academy, Calcutta, 3-2 in a nail-biting tiebreaker, the Cuttack team proved their mettle in the eight-day tournament, in which 10 teams took part. SAI’s goalkeeper Ramesh Naik played a key role by saving two spot kicks of the IFA team. He won the player of the match award, while teammate Sanatan Lohar emerged as the player of the tournament. The tournament was organised by the Rourkela Sports Association.

Shooting stars

Odisha shooters won a number of medals at the third edition of East India Shotgun Championship held at the Satish Mallik Shooting Range at Midnapore in Bengal on Monday.

The team bagged two gold, three silver and four bronze medals.

Shooter Pramod Kumar Sahoo clinched one gold medal each in the single trap and double trap events and emerged as the top shooter of the event.

Weighty affair

Odia powerlifter Pradeep Patra won a gold medal at the recently concluded National Junior Powerlifting Championship in Lucknow.

Patra lifted a total of 550kg in the 77kg category to clinch the gold medal and emerged as the runners-up “Strongman” in the championship.

The Odisha Powerlifting Association had sent 12 participants from the state to participate in the event.

Rowing team

The 31st Open National Rowing Championship began on Tuesday at Hussain Sagar lake in Hyderabad.

The Odisha Association for Rowing and Sculling has sent a 13-member squad to the championship.

Rowers Amusana Devi, Meena Madhuri Toppo and Pratima Puhana are among the nine women from Odisha to participate at the national event. Bikash Patra and Roshan Lakra are the only contenders in the boys’ category from the state.

Serving an ace

The Gurukul Tennis Academy is hosting the All-India Tennis Association and Odisha Tennis Association Men’s Ranking Tennis Tournament at its facility in Mendhshal.

Forty-one players from 11 states played the qualifying matches on Sunday and Monday to be selected for the eight berths remaining in the 32 player main draw. Sanjib Kerketta of Bengal has been chosen as the top seed.

The tournament will see Odisha players Chinmay Pradhan, Vijay Avinandan, Adwithiya Patnaik and Santosh Kumar Mallik contending for the title.

Kicking up a storm

Odia karatekas put up a great show at the International Shotokan Karate Championship that concluded in Goa earlier this month. The Odisha team that represented India at the event won nine gold, seven silver and seven bronze medals.

The championship featured 700 karatekas from India, Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Karatekas Magnajit Sahu, Nitai Shankar, Shakti Prasad, Abhijit Rana, Nirmal Patra, Abhijit Deb Goswami and Debadarshi Prusty were some of the gold winners from the state.

Cricket triumph

The East Zone lifted the maiden Duleep Trophy title under Odia boy Nataraj Behera’s captaincy. Behera made 46 runs in the final against Central Zone. Odisha Ranji teammates Biplab Samantaray and Basant Mohanty put up a great show by limiting the run rate with their economical bowling economy.

In Bhubaneswar Cricket Club’s tournament held at the Unit II Girls’ High School playground, Rameswar Sporting defeated Scan Sporting in a stunner with just one ball and one wicket remaining. They successfully chased a target of 176 in 30 overs. Namita Panda