A plethora of chess championships and the T-20 cricket event hosted in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar were the sporting highlights of the week. In hockey, the East Coast Railway won the Nalco Cup in a nail-biting final held at the Barabati Stadium
All hopes quashed
Host Odisha's hope for a berth in the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 Tournament was dashed as they suffered a five-wicket defeat in their last Group-B super league match against Hyderabad at DRIEMS Cricket Stadium in Tangi, Cuttack, on Saturday. This was the second defeat in four matches for Odisha and they ended their campaign with eight points. The finals were played between Punjab and Gujarat.
Checkmate
Manas Ranjan Parida won the 10th All-Odisha Open Chess Tournament, which concluded at Secretariat Recreation Club in Bhubaneswar last week. Top seed Parida maintained his winning run till the end to finish with eight points. Prakash Chandra Sahoo and Santosh Kumar Sinha finished second and third.
Chennai Grandmaster Rajaram R Laxman won the title in the 3rd Bhubaneswar Open All-India Fide Rating Chess Tournament, which concluded at Hotel Empires of Bhubaneswar recently. An employee of Integral Coach Factory, 32-year-old Laxman finished with eight points, winning seven games and drawing the remaining two. Among Odisha players, Fide Master Soumya Ranjan Mishra was most successful, securing seventh position.
Altogether, 165 players from 12 states joined the nine-round tournament.
Third Srusti Chess Festival 2015 (Odisha State U-9/U-19 Open & Girls Chess Championship 2015) was held at JRD Tata Hall of Srusti Academy of Management, Bhubaneswar. Top two players will represent Odisha in forthcoming National (U-9) Open & Girls Chess Championship 2015 at Ahmedabad from 11 June to 19 June. Top four players will represent Odisha in the forthcoming National Junior (U-19) Girls' Chess Championship to be held in Chennai from 24 to 31 July.
Meanwhile, the 56th Official Senior State Chess Championship will be hosted from April 8 to 12 at the Gopabandhu Ayurved Mahavidyalaya in Puri. Also known as the Laxmipriya Mohapatra Memorial Tournament, top four players of the meet will represent the state at the National Challengers' Trophy to be hosted in Uttar Pradesh this year. Kutie Kids Play School will also organise the first school open chess championship on April 11 and 12 on their campus in Nayapalli, Bhubaneswar. The tournament will begin at 9am. Class X students who are born on or after 01-01-2000 are eligible to participate in the upcoming tournament.
Run for glory
The Cuttack District Athletic Association organised Ganadauda or mass run on the occasion of Utkal Divas last week. The event was flagged off by S. Praveen Kumar, deputy commissioner of police, Cuttack, at the Barabati Fort gate at 7am. For sub-junior boys and girls, the run started from Barabati Fort gate and took the route through Deer Park, Biju Patnaik Chhak,Jail Road, Buxi Bazar, Samaj Office, Cantonment Road and culminated at the Club House.
Hockey hurrah
East Coast Railway (ECoR) emerged champion by defeating Khurda district by 2-1 goals in the final of the Nalco Cup State Hockey Championship at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Sunday. In the nail-biting final match, ECoR got the lead in the second minute of the match after Suresh Toppo scored a goal. International player Dipsan Tirkey nailed the equaliser in the 38th minute. After the break, Sanjib Kujur scored the winning goal in the 58th minute. Hockey Odisha president Justices A.S. Naidu, Nalco CMD Ansuman Das, ECoR Sports Association president S.C. Samantary, Hockey Odisha secretary Pratap Stapathy, joint secretary Pranab Pattnaik and the members of state association were present during the closing ceremony.
Football frenzy
The East Coast Railway emerged champion in the second edition of the Chandan Cup All India Women's Football Tournament. They defeated Bhubaneswar Sports Hostel 2-0 in the final held at the Baramunda ground in Bhubaneswar on March 28.Manisha Panna and Lochana Munda of the winning team were adjudged the player of the tournament and man of the match for the final f respectively. The winning team received a cash prize of Rs 15,000 while the runner-up got Rs 10,000. The tournament was organised by the Odisha Veer Mahasangha.
