Table tennis battles
A five-member men’s team and a three-member women's team from Odisha are taking part in the ongoing 78th Senior National And Inter-State Table Tennis Championship that is being held at IMT Manesar Club, sector-5, in Gurgaon. The tournament will continue till Sunday. The members of the men’s team are — Sagar Ghatge, Tausif Haque, Bikash Singh, Mahammed Azhar and Pranat Sachin while the women's team consists of Samartha Prusty, Poushali Ghatak and Ananya Basak. Coach P.V.S.S. Raju and manager Debi Prasanna Mohanty have trained the players. Tapan Kha from the state is one of the umpires for the event.
Women shine
Rising Student Football Club is the only club from Odisha to take part in the first Indian Women's League, which started from January 28. The team is among six clubs from various parts of the country, which are taking part in the league. The other teams are - Pune FC from Maharastra, Aizwal FC from Meghalaya, Jeppaiyar FC from Pondicherry, Easter Sporting Union from Manipur and Alakhpura FC from Haryana. International footballer from the state, Sasmita Malik, who is also the captain of the state team, was present at the trophy-unveiling event in New Delhi. All matches will be played at Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi.
Nation’s pride
Satyajit Singh from Balasore will be a part of Indian Kho Kho team, which will play its first kho-kho test match against England at Ajmer in Rajasthan. Satyajit, who is only 16 years old, has got an opportunity to play for the country. He had been a part of junior and senior state teams and achieved success at various tournaments. He is studying in Plus-II. Though he hails from Mayurbhanj, he left his village for better training under Malay Ranjan Behera in Balasore. The Odisha Kho Kho Association provides him all the facilities to help him perform well.
Cricket for blind
Bhubaneswar is co-hosting the second T20 World Cup Cricket for Blind 2017. Odia film star Sabyasachi Mishra has been chosen as the brand ambassador from Odisha for the event. The multinational event started from January 29 in New Delhi. Bhubaneswar will host the qualifier match between India and New Zealand on February 7. The tournament will conclude on February 12. Ten countries are taking part in this championship. The tournament will be played on a league-cum-knockout basis across 12 cities in the country.
Hockey low
Sportspersons who represented the nation in the Olympics, Asia Cup, Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, and Champions Trophy, alleged that they were sidelined in the Hockey India League, a tournament that aims to popularise the game in the country. Olympians Lazarus Barla, William Khalko and former captain of the Indian Hockey team Prabodh Tirkey have levelled such allegations. They along with the office bearers of the Hockey Gangpur Association submitted a memorandum to the executive director of Odisha Sports Development and Promotion Company, which jointly owns Kalinga Lancers.
Major feat
Deepak Behera claimed two wickets for his team leading to a 10-run win over Tripura in the East Zone T20 League match at the Eden Gardens on Friday. Odisha scored 131 for six in 20 overs while Tripura scored 121 for eight in 20 overs.
ANWESHA AMBALY
