World games
Odia boy Rajesh Meher made India proud by bagging a gold as well as a bronze medal in the Special Olympics World Games, being held at Los Angeles in the US. Meher got the gold medal in 200 metres sprint (division 28) by clocking 31.03 seconds and the bronze in 400 metres (division 26) with a timing of 1:11.18 seconds. He had won the 100 metres gold at the National Championship of Special Olympics held at New Delhi two years ago. Bhubaneswar girl Sarita Routray, also made the state proud by representing India in the cycling event of the Special Olympics. The two Odia sportspersons were accompanied by Arpita Mohapatra, the head coach of the Indian
aquatics squad.
Bouncy pitch
Mediocre and below par bowling and very few impressive performances with the bat put Odisha in a state of bother in their match against Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) in the K. Thimmappiah Memorial Tournament held in Bangalore. Odisha lost to Karnataka after winning their first match against Assam. Despite captain Biplab Samantaray's century, the Odisha team was all out for 265. In the ongoing match against Himachal Pradesh that ends on Wednesday, there were not many high individual scores in Odisha’s first innings apart from Girija Rout (51), Prateek Das (31), Alok Sahoo (33) leading to a team total of 203. Till news last came in, Himachal Pradesh lost one wicket for 39 runs with Sahoo clinching the sole wicket.
Tennis time
The All India Tennis Association & Odisha Tennis Association Talent series for U-14 and U-16 Tennis Tournament commenced at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Monday. Over 100 participants from Odisha, Bengal, Jharkhand, Assam and Bihar are taking part in the four singles’events. Raina Jaffar of Assam and Odia girl Rutuparna Choudhary have been ranked the top seeds in the U-14 and U-16 girls’ categories, respectively. Among the boys, both U-14 and U-16 have Odia top seeds in Amrutjay Mohanty and A. Satpathy.
Powerlifting
The 26th State Powerlifting Championship will be hosted in Bhubaneswar from August 7 to 9. The meet will help in the selection criteria for the Odisha team for the National Sub-junior, Junior, Senior, Master and Benchpress Championships.
Chess check
Odia chess champion Padmini Rout has been seeded second in the Asian Continental Women’s Chess Championship that is under way at Al Ain the United Arab Emirates. In the form of her life, Padmini won with black pieces against Nguyen Thi Thanh An of Vietnam. The women’s championship is also a part of the next edition of Women’s World Championship cycle. However, only the winner will qualify to the next stage. In the open championship, Debashis Das drew with Keshav Shrestha from Nepal.
