Chess laurels

Chess queen Padmini Rout grabbed a gold medal in the women’s category of the Commonwealth Chess Championship, which was conducted at the Hotel Park Plaza in New Delhi from June 23 to June 30. Rout, an International Master, was playing in the top category of the event. The championship featured a total of 298 players from 11 countries.  With seven points of the total nine, Padmini managed to win her first gold medal in the championship, being unbeaten till the end.

There were 79 titled players in the fray, including 17 Grandmasters, six women Grandmasters and 22 International Masters. 

As many as 14 players from the state took part in seven different categories of the eight-day championship and three of them won medals. Besides Padmini, Woman Candidate Master Saina Salonika secured a silver medal in the Under-12 girl’s category, while Mahitosh Dey bagged a bronze medal in the Under-10 open category. Saina finished second with 5.5 points out of a possible seven.

Racquet rules

The All-India Tennis Association and the Odisha Tennis Association hosted the Talent Series (TS7) tennis tournament for Under-12 and Under-16 commenced on Monday at the Kalinga Stadium tennis complex in Bhubaneswar. The total number of participants in the tournament is 70. Some of them have come from Jharkhand and Bengal. Since this is a zone-wise tournament, only eastern zone players are allowed to play. On the first day, Odia eves Simran Neha Ekka and Ayesha Swain defeated their opponents from Jharkhand in various singles matches. Meanwhile, Anaam Almas, Ameek Kiran Batth and K. Bhargavi defeated state mates in other matches.

Weightlifting plans

Weightlifting is losing weight in Odisha. Except eight districts of the state, that includes Ganjam, Cuttack, Sundargarh, Puri, Khurda, Mayurbhanj, Balangir and Koraput, there is not much interest in weightlifting among people. “I have proposed to open special gym in each of the 30 districts as excellence centre and submitted a plan of Rs 5 crore to boost weightlifting in the entire state to the ministry of sports and youth affairs,” said Narayan Sahu, the secretary of Odisha Weightlifting Association (OWA) who was elected to the post for the 5th time and created history. 

“We must nourish the budding weightlifters with proper barbell sets and take care of their diets. The state government must come forward to make that happen,” Narayan said. He said this during the felicitation ceremony at the Veer Hanuman Circus and Physical Institute (VHCPI) of seven veteran weightlifters of Ganjam district on June 29. “Such a big number from Ganjam district is definitely a pride for Berhampur,” said B. Venugopal Rao, the organising secretary of Indian Body Building Federation (IBBF) and one of the international judges, who presided over the felicitation meet. Berhampur is called the cradle of weightlifting. Narayan Sahu, who is also the secretary of VHCPI, has groomed more than 250 medallists both in international and national level, two Arjun awardees including Bijaya Kumar Satpathy and Katulu Ravi Kumar. Around 25 weightlifters have bagged various jobs. 

Narayan said: “ The OWA is also planning to organise the All-India Sub-Junior and Junior Weightlifting Championship in 2016 or 2017 in Odisha. We would mobilise recourses of Rs 30 lakh for the purpose. We conducted the All India Senior Weightlifting Championship in 2011 successfully with an expenditure of Rs 23.20 lakh.”

Martial arts

Professional cage fighter Shrikant Shekhar took part in the state’s first-ever mixed martial arts competition — Yoddha Fighting Championship — at the Utkal Karate School. The contest came to an end on Monday. Shrikant has so far competed in four professional fight leagues such as Goa’s Cage Combat Fighting, Kerala’s Swastika Fighting Competition, Mumbai’s Super Fight League and Submission Martial Competition and has won a gold and silver. Overall, 29 matches were played in two days with 15 matches played on Saturday and 14 on Sunday. As many as 56 male and 2 female contestants competed in the series.

In another development, the Odisha Taekwondo Association is going to organise the 2nd State Cadet Taekwondo Championship 2015 and the 2nd state Poomsae Championship 2015. 

Football league

The Football Association of Odisha’s (FAO) women’s football league began on Sunday at the Bidanasi ground in Cuttack. Eight teams are featuring in the league. The teams include Mangala Club, Sports Hostel, East Coast Railway, Radha Gobind Club, Chand Club, Odisha Police, Sunrise Club and Sunshine Club. In the inaugural match played between Mangala Club and Sunshine Club, the latter won 2-1. The goal scorer for Sunshine Club was Maneka Malick, who netted two goals in the eighth and 42nd minute. Nikita Bishi scored the only goal for Mangala Club in the 56th minute. Earlier, the East Coast Railway defeated Sunrise Club 3-0 while Sports Hostel won 2-0 against Chand Club.