This fun-filled week of sports saw an array of activities across the state. A football workshop was held to spot talents, while Cuttack is all set to stage the first women’s district football league. On another turf, seven Oriya players were chosen for the first Asian hockey championships. While the state chess championship concluded in Nabarangpur, players from Orissa were on a high at Mangalore. The Telegraph turns the spotlight on these sporting events.

Talent hunt

A talent hunt for an international football workshop to be held in Munich, Germany, was held last week in Bhubaneswar. Organised by Bajaj Allianz for the second year in a row, the talent hunt was conducted at the Unit-VI Athletic Association ground.

More than 50 schools and three clubs participated in the event that saw close to 150 players turning up. Two players, Chaturananda Marandi of KISS and Soumya Ranjan Das of Unit-VI High School were chosen for the July 25 final trial round, which is to be held in Calcutta.

BJB Junior College students Dibyalochan Nayak and Sonaram Laguri and Unit-VI Boys’ High School student Rajendra Barik made it to the stand by group of players.

Renowned Mohan Bagan coach Tapan Jyoti Mitra was the chief selector at the talent hunt.

Hockey stars

The first hockey Asian Championship Trophy will be held in September. Seven Oriya players have been included among the 48 probable members announced. These include mid-fielder William Khalko, defender Ignace Tirkey, Prabodh Tirkey, Birendra Lakra junior, forward Bikash Toppo, Roshan Minzand Banamali Khes.

Women play ball

Cuttack District Athletics Association will host the first Cuttack district women football league starting from July 20. A total of six teams, including Adaspur, Mahanadivihar and Agrahat, will be participating in the tournament that will be played at Sailabala Women’s College ground. The tournament is being held to pick players from the grassroot level and to popularise women’s football. The champion team will get a cash award of Rs 3,000 along with a trophy and Rs 2,000 will given to the runners up team. The final match will be played on July 27.

Meanwhile, FAO Women’s Football League was also announced recently.

The tournament will begin from August 15 with 10 teams. Group A includes Sunshine, Chauliaganj, Rising Students, Radhagobinda and Chand Clubs, while Morning Club, Radharaman, Sunrise, Mangala club and Orissa Police teams are placed in Group B. The tournament holds total prize money of Rs 6,50,000.

Carom

LIC East Central Zonal Carom tournament kicked off at a hotel in Cuttack on Tuesday. In all, 27 participants, including 10 women players, are participating in the two-day tournament organised by Divisional Sports Committee, Cuttack division.

Chess championships

The All-Orissa Open Chess Championship held in Nabarangur concluded on Sunday. The nine-round championship saw the participation of 36 players from 12 districts. Out of the 15 players who made it to the points' table, Sudhir Kumar Behera from Kalahandi and Dasarthi Sahoo from Nayagarh made it to the top of the table with eight points each. Sudhir was declared the champion because of his progressive score, while Dasarathi emerged runners' up.

On the other hand, chess players from the state are on a success spree at various championships on across the nation. At the Mangalore FIDE Rating tournament, International Master Anwesh Upadhyaya is sharing the top position at the points’ table with S. Nitin.

At the 25th National Under-7 Championship in Pune, six out of 13 Orissa players have been winning consecutively. Sambit Panda is in the top of the points’ table with four other players. In yet another chess event, Smaraki Mohanty has been showing her skills. She started off with a dual win on the opening day at the National Sub-Junior Chess Championships in Pondicherry.

Football league

The first division and second division football leagues organised by Football Association of Orissa (FAO) have been keeping football lovers on their toes. League matches being held at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack for the first division tournament’s super league are seeing a neck-and-neck competition. Three teams each from Group B and Group D have already made it to super league stages. While Rising Students’ Club, Radhamadhab Club, Morning Club are the teams from Group B, Sunrise Club, Sunshine Club, Sports Authority of India (SAI) from Group D have made it to the last stages. The match between Jobra Durga Club and Bidanasi played on Sunday ended in a
1-1 draw, while on Monday, Sports Hostel defeated Kishore Club 2-1 and Azad Hind defeated Young Utkal Club 2-0. In the second division league match at Bidanasi Ground in Cuttack, Royal Club and Telecom played a goalless match on Sunday.