Dribble delight

Hockey Odisha and Hockey Gangpur are representing the state at the Senior Hockey Championships for Men and Women, which are under way. In the women’s championship in Bangalore, Hockey Gangpur led by Anupama Kujur, won all the matches in their group (pool C) and made it to the semi-finals, while Hockey Odisha girls captained by Ambika Toppo have also registered victory in their first match against Jharkhand in pool B.

In the men’s championship that is being held at Saifai in Uttar Pradesh, Hockey Odisha and Hockey Gangpur are both performing exceedingly well in the league matches. Both are clubbed in pool D. While Hockey Odisha has won two matches, which includes a win against their state mates from Gangpur, the latter have also won two of their three matches so far.

Players from Odisha have been selected for the Senior Women’s National training camp in London. The players who have been chosen from the state are Deep Grace Ekka, Sunita Lakra, Punam Barla, Lilima Minz and Namita Toppo. The training for the national team will be conducted from May 1 to 10, said the secretary of Hockey Odisha, Pratap Satapathy.

Prompt passes

Odia sub-junior boys lost to Bengal in the finals of the 37th Sub-Junior National Football Championship (final round) held in New Delhi. Despite a good performance, they lost 0-1 to Bengal. Odisha got as many as five chances to score, but luck was not at their side.

An exhibition football match will be played in Goa on April 27 between the Under-16 Boys’ teams of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and the Football Association of Odisha (FAO). The AIFF team is being coached by Nicolai Adam and the team is being prepared by the AIFF for the upcoming Under-17 World Cup, which will be hosted by India.

The FAO had already conducted a preparatory camp for the team from March 28 to 30 at Cuttack and a total of 61 players took part in the selection trials, out of which 31 players were chosen for the second round of camp that was held from April 11. The final team has 18 players. Suraj Thapa (AFC- C license football coach) is taking care of the Odisha team. He is currently employed with the National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco) in Angul, said Sanjay Behera, the secretary of FAO.

Power hits

The Inter-Club Cricket Tournament hosted by the Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) at various venues in Cuttack concluded with Rising Students lifting the trophy. In the T-20 series final match played at the Barabati Stadium between Rising Students and Union Sporting, the former won the toss and chose to bat. The winning team scored 167/6. Abhiliash Mallick, Biplab Samantaray and Deepak Behera scored 42, 50 and 40 runs, respectively. Union Sporting managed to score 141/9 with Kameswar Barik scoring 33 and Niranjan Behera 34 runs. Rising Students won by 26 runs and took home a cash prize of Rs 15,000, while Union Sporting won Rs 10,000. In the Inter-District Tournament, the three-day semi-finals are under way in Cuttack. Bhubaneswar A and Balasore are battling it out at the Driems Ground, while Cuttack A and Jajpur are playing at the Ravenshaw ground.

Yell and win

The Cuttack District-Level Taekwondo Championship was hosted at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium. The organisers of the event, APN Taekwondo Academy, emerged champion with 38 gold medals along with nine silver and six bronze medals. Amar’s Taekwondo Academy emerged runners-up with 16 golds, 16 silvers and 12 bronze medals. Other clubs such as SB Academy, Arc Academy, Kalinga Academy and Netaji Academy also took part in the competition.

 NAMITA PANDA