Balasore champs
Balasore emerged champions in the 10th Biju Patnaik Gold Cup Football Tournament, defeating Nayagarh by 5-4 goals through tiebreaker in a nail-biting final match held on the Unit-VI High School ground on December 12. The Balasore team defeated the Nayagarh boys by 5-4 goals in a tie-breaker after both teams failed to score within the stipulated time period. Raisan Tudu, Sanjay Hembram and Sibram Hansda of the champion team bagged player of the final, best goalkeeper and midfielder award, respectively. Best defender, forward and player of the tournament awards were given to Pintu Samal, D Sanjay and Samir Kerketa of the runners-up team, respectively. Ten teams took part in this under-15 tournament.
Aces in play
Top seed Ansu Kumar Bhuyan emerged champions in the men's category while Rutuparna Choudhury won in women’s singles category at the 18th Nalco Cup Tennis Tournament, which concluded at Kalinga Stadium tennis complex on December 11. Rituparna defeated Anaam Almas by 6-1, 6-1 sets in the women’s singles final. Ansu beat Satirtha Ppatnaik by 6-4, 6-1. In the men’s doubles final, Ansu partnered with Satirtha to edge out Asutosh Das and Abhilash Chandra Sahoo by 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 and received the champions title. As many as 420 players from across the state took part in eight different categories.
Checkmate
Fide master Soumya Ranjan Mishra won the Syed Umar Alli Memorial Third Kendrapara Open Chess Tournament played at the Urdu library community centre, Kendrapara, on Sunday. He scored 8 out of 9 points to top the list and got a cash prize of Rs 16,000. Siddhant Mohapatra emerged first runner-up while Smaraki finished third with 8 and 7.5 points respectively and grabbed prize money of Rs 10,000 and Rs 8,000 respectively. There were 159 participants from 15 districts and two institutions. The tournament was organised by Kendrapara District Chess Association under the aegis of All Odisha Chess Association.
In memoriam
Talented football player and state football captain Kedar Nath Singh passed away on November 28. He had the distinction of representing Odisha in the senior men's football team at various national events and was the captain of the state senior team for prestigious Santosh Trophy last year. He had served the state football and helped to take it forward. Considering his rich contribution to the game of football in the state, the Football Association of Odisha declared a financial assistance of Rs 25,000 for his family.
Kabaddi meet
Kalinga Kabaddi Academy is set to host the 11th All Indian Kabaddi Tournament to be held here from December 27 to December 30 in a bid to promote this indigenous sport. The tournament will feature cash awards where the champion, runner-up and third placeholder will receive Rs 2 lakh, Rs 1 lakh and Rs 50,000 respectively. Many international and Pro Kabaddi League players will take part in the meet. As many as 16 teams from outside of state and five from Odisha will fight for the top honours.
Roll call
Speed Skating Events will be conducted from January 18 to January 23 in Bangalore. Roller and inline hockey, downhill, alpine will be conducted from January 25 to January 29 at Jodhpur. Artistic, freestyle, skateboarding, roller derby (demo event) will be conducted from February 1 to February 5 at Noida. The Roller Skating Federation of India will be conducting selection trials for speed skaters on December 18 from 7 am to select the Odisha team for participation in the 54th National Roller Speed Skating Championship. The trials will be held at Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences, Bhubaneswar. For the trials, federation's latest rules and regulations will be followed for four age groups each in the boys and girls categories.
Kick-start
The Odisha Kickboxing Association will host the 6th IAKO Indian Open National Open Kickboxing Championship for sub-junior, junior and senior boys and girls at Kalinga Stadium from January 5 to 8. As many as 700 kick boxers are expected to take part in the four-day meet. The players will take part in a total of 133 categories of full-contact, semi-contact, light-contact, low-kick, Thai kickboxing, aerobics and musical form events. Around 80 kick boxers from the state will take part in the meet.
Cagers shine
Kishore Club men’s team and Government Sports Hostel women’s team emerged champions in the 3rd Limca Memorial Basketball Tournament, which concluded here at Unit-I Basketball Complex on November 11. Kishore Club edged out of Kalinga Basketball Club in the men's final match by 68-64 while Government Sports Hostel finished third in the men's category defeating KIIT University by 74-70. The three-day tournament was jointly organised by Bhubanswar Basketball Association and Khurda District Basketball Association. Nirlipta Parida from Kishore Club and Urbashi Mallick from the Government Sports Hostel were adjudged players of the tournament.
