(Clockwise from left) Cueist Ashutosh Padhy and students of Bachpan Playschool, Rourkela, and Shree Krishna International School, Bhubaneswar, perform at their respective annual day celebrations. Picture by Uttam Kumar Pal and Telegraph pictures

Hat-trick for cueist

Ashutosh Padhy, a Class X student of Delhi Public School (Kalinga), grabbed the sub-junior national snooker title by defeating Hritik Jain of Madhya Pradesh last week. The expert cueist won 3-1 to become the champion this year at the event held at the Gymnasium Hall of Jiwaji University in Gwalior. With this victory, he has made it three times in a row. Ashutosh became the first-ever national cue sports champ from Odisha when he won the sub-junior national billiards title at Pune in 2010 and defended it in the subsequent year at Chennai.

Mom & kids groove

Tiny tots of Bachpan play school, Rourkela ushered in their annual day festivities with a delightful song and dance extravaganza at Civic Centre on Tuesday. The little ones, dressed in cute and colourful costumes, presented a musical symphony followed by fusion and contemporary dance performances. The show concluded with a surprise performance by a group of mothers. They took the stage by storm, grooving to several popular Bollywood tracks like pros.

Football time

Never mind exam time is close, little Beckhams and Messis of Cuttack are looking at a different ball game. For, the much-awaited Coca Cola inter-school football tournament began at the Satyabrata Stadium on Wednesday. Organised by the Football Association of Odisha, the annual event aims at identifying budding sportspersons. The matches are being played in a knockout format.

Annual day

Revolution 2013, the annual day of Shree Krishna International School, Bhubaneswar, was celebrated with aplomb. The vibrant evening soiree featured a fascinating session of dance, songs and skits on a range of themes.

Former minister Biswa Bhushan Harichandan was the chief guest on the occasion and gave away prizes to the meritorious students. Principal Sanjukta Dash read out the annual report, stressing on the scholastic and co-scholastic accomplishments of the school.

Safe childhood

Volunteers of Humara Bachpan, a network and campaign for safe and healthy physical environment for young children living in urban poverty, conducted a workshop with stakeholders to discuss various issues concerning a safe, healthy and child-friendly slum environment. Councillors, government employees, social workers and slum dwellers took part in the activity.

They discussed about orientating children and community members on urban policies and amendments to existing laws from children’s perspective and what recommendations could be placed before the government. They chalked out key components for a healthy childhood in slums and analysed approaches and strategic activities that could be included in the campaign.