Odia sportspersons put up a good fight in the Ranji Trophy and Junior National Girls Football Championship. The dates for state-level shooting and table tennis championships have been announced.
Shooting event
The 5th Odisha State Shooting Championship will begin from November 12 at the newly built shooting range at Kalinga Stadium. The stadium, along with the championship, will be inaugurated by Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on that day, said Hariprasad Pattanayak, the secretary of Odisha Rifle Association, which is hosting the event.
Men’s tennis
Chinmay Pradhan, the star of Odisha tennis, proved his worth as the top seed at the AITA 50K Men's Ranking Tennis Tournament by winning the singles title. The championship, organised by the Odisha Tennis Association, was held at KIIT International School in Bhubaneswar. He beat another Odia, second seed Ansu Kumar Bhuyan, 6-3, 6-1 in the final to gain 15 ranking points and a cash prize of Rs 6,500. Runner-up Bhuyan settled with 12 points and a cash prize of Rs 4,500. Bhuyan, however, clinched the doubles title with partner Avilash Mishra beating the top seed pair of Ajay Nishank and Satirtha Patnaik in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 in an all-Odisha final. Altogether, 48 players from 14 states participated in the tournament.
Ranji win
Odisha registered their first win this Ranji season by defeating Assam by eight wickets at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. In the next Group A league match to be held at KIIT Stadium in Bhubaneswar from Friday, the state will face Delhi. In a four-day Plate Group B match of the Col C.K. Nayudu Trophy (U-23) Tournament played at Veer Surendra Sai Stadium in Sambalpur, the host team lost to visitors Haryana by an innings and 87 runs.
Football defeat
The Odisha team reached the finals of the Junior National Girls Football Championship 2015, which was held in Goa. However, the team lost to Manipur by 5-0 goals in the final match. In the first half, the Odisha eves conceded four goals. Though the team put up a brave fight in the second half, the efforts by the players did not yield any result. Following the defeat, Odisha had to be content with the runners-up position for the second time in a row. The team members, along with coach Gitanjali Khuntia and manager Chitrasen Patra, were felicitated by the Football Association of Odisha (FAO) in Cuttack on their return on Saturday. The FAO First Division League-2015 will start from November 1 at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack, in which 20 clubs and institutions will take part. The FAO Second Division League will also be held in November.
Table tennis tourney
The Khurda District Table Tennis Association is all set to host the 10th All Odisha Ranking Table Tennis Tournament at the Saheed Nagar Indoor Hall in Bhubaneswar from Saturday. Around 150 players from across the state will be taking part in the ranking tournament that will feature single matches in various segments, including cadet, sub-junior, junior, youth and senior categories for boys and girls. Doubles events will also be hosted in boys and men's categories at the three-day-long event.
