Power show

Sangita Singh clinched two silver medals at the Federation Cup Powerlifting Championship that concluded in Himachal Pradesh on April 1. She lifted 182.5kg in squat, 85kg in benchpress and 155kg in deadlift segments of the 84kg women’s category at the event with a total of 422.5kg to grab one silver medal while she won another for her deadlift performance.

Smashing play

The third Secretariat All-Odisha Open Badminton Tournament organised by the Odisha State Secretariat Badminton Association (OSSBA) at Saheed Nagar Indoor Hall concluded on March 30. Players from various parts of the state competed in the three-day tournament. S. Appa Rao of East Coast Railway (Sambalpur) and Abhimanyu Bagarti of Balangir won two titles each. Rao clinched the men’s singles and doubles titles while Bagarti won titles at the sub-junior boys’ singles and doubles events. Rao defeated top seed Manas Ranjan Routray of Cuttack in the singles final to grab the men’s title. Bagarti won the boys’ singles championship by beating Bhubaneswar boy Debasis Mishra. Shuttler Arabinda Sahu was named the player of the tournament. East Coast Railway Sports Association president Dilip Kumar Samantaray presented the trophies. The organising committee chairman Priyadarshi Mohapatra and OSSBA working president Lalit Mohan Patnaik and secretary Chitta Ranjan Rout were present at the event.

Netting the ball

Bhubaneswar defeated reigning champions Cuttack 6-4 through a tiebreaker in the second leg final of the 54th senior inter-district football tournament , named the Sahani Cup, at Satayabrata Stadium in Cuttack last week. Both teams had scored three goals each in the regulation time, after which the game had to go to a tiebreaker . The first leg final between the two teams had ended in a goalless draw.

Bounce it up

An inter-technical college basketball championship organised by KIIT concluded recently. The hosts defeated the Siksha O Anusandhan (SOA) university team 32-22 to lift the trophy. Earlier, KIIT had defeated XIMB while SOA had beaten NIST, Berhampur, in the semi-finals.

Going for gold

The “Go-for-gold” torch, an initiative by Monnet Ispat and Energy Limited (MIEL), reached Bhubaneswar on Sunday. The torch is a drive to encourage sportspersons to perform well in the Olympics and was welcomed in the city by chief minister Naveen Patnaik and Rajya Sabha member and former Indian hockey captain Dilip Tirkey, along with Sandeep Jajodia, managing director, MIEL, at a function held at Kalinga Stadium.

Medal time

The national para-athletic championship concluded at the Kanteerava Stadium in Bangalore, in which 1,250 athletes from 22 states participated. Odia athletes showed great skills. Punil Kumar Mansingh bagged a gold in the 400 metre race, Akshay Kumar Sahu won a silver medal in high jump, Shakti Prasad Nath won a silver in shot put, Nilachala Gouda and Chandra Prakash Reddy won a silver in discus throw, Bipin Jena won a bronze in javelin throw. Punil, Akshay, Durga Prasad Singh and Amar Kandi won bronze in other race events also.

In Sachin’s name

An indoor cricket hall dedicated to Sachin Tendulkar, who set a world record by scoring 100 international centuries, was inaugurated at Odisha Cricket Association and Barabati stadium, Cuttack, on the occasion of Utkal Divas on Sunday. Built in over 2,000 sqft, the cricket hall, which has been constructed at a cost of nearly Rs 16 crore, was earlier sanctioned by the Board of Cricket Control in India. The hall will come to the rescue of junior and state-level cricketers for practice during the off seasons, especially in monsoon.

Proud awardees

The coveted Ekalabya sports award for 2011 was presented to international rower Pratima Puhan in Bhubaneswar.
Pratima was presented with a citation as well as cash prize of Rs 1.5 lakh, while her rowing partner Pramila Prava Minz received the first runners-up award. The second runners-up award was given to Indian woman football captain Sasmita Mallick. The award was started by the charitable wing of IMFA Group in 1993 and is presented to talented young sportspersons of the state. On the other hand, all-rounder Biplab Samantaray has been selected for the 20th Shahid Sporting-Maruti Estate Cricketer of the Year Award 2011-12. Biplab’s impressive performance in the Ranji trophy has won him the accolade.