Hockey hurrah
Home team Kalinga Lancers may have lost to the Uttar Pradesh Wizards, but sports lovers enjoyed the inaugural match of fourth edition of the Hockey India League (HIL) that was hosted at Kalinga Stadium on Monday. The visiting team won the match 8-6. The new rule — every field goal to be valued as two goals — was used in the match, and as expected, the match turned out to be a high-scoring one. Though the home team was lagging behind at the end of the first quarter, by half time they were leading 6-4 and at every goal of the Kalinga Lancers the crowd was on its feet with joy. However, the UP Wizards stunned the Kalinga Lancers at the last moment by scoring two goals.
Kalinga Lancers player Glenn Turner received the Man of the Match award, while the Goal of the Match award went to Jolie Wouter from the UP Wizards. Dipsan Tirky from the Kalinga Lancers received the Hero Emerging Player of the Match and the award for the Most Entertaining Player of the Match went to Lalit Upadhyay, also from the home team.
Smart serve
Top seeds Abhishek Mohapatra and Amrutjay Mohanty won the boys’ U-14 doubles title in the All India Tennis Tournament (AITA) Championship Series Tournament (CS7) in Calcutta on January 14 by beating second seed Bengal duo Aman Washim and Anurag Kedia by 6-0 6-3. Odisha players won all the singles events in U-14 and U-18 categories of the tournament. In girls’ U-14 singles, Ameek Kiran Batth beat Ayushi Singh (Jharkhand) 6-2 6-1, and in boys’ U-14 singles, Amrutjay Mohanty beat Amaan Wasim from Bengal 6-3 6-0. In girls’ U-18 singles, Rutuparna Choudhury beat Shruti Gupta from Bengal 6-1 6-2, and in boys’ U-18 singles, Avilash Mishra beat Sheikh Mohameed Iftikar from Bengal 6-3 6-2. Most of the Odia players are from the Farhan Ali Tennis Academy.
Cricket trials
The Odisha Cricket Association has selected 23 cricketers to attend the state women’s U-23 trials or selection-cum-coaching camp that began at KIIT Cricket Stadium, Bhubaneswar from Tuesday.
The Super League matches of the inter-district U-16 cricket tournament in Cuttack also commenced from Monday wherein eight teams are playing. The teams are Bargarh, Nayagarh, Koraput, Nuapada, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Bhadrak and KIIT.
Checkmate
The Cuttack District Chess Championship concluded at Barabati Stadium on Monday wherein 186 players took part. Ashirwad Swain clinched the title, while Smaraki Mohanty emerged runner-up and Johnson Sahoo stood third. In the junior section, Nilsu Pattnaik won and Aryan Anab Samantray was the runner-up, while Baivab Singh came third. Both champions were top seeds for the event that had eight rounds.
Special talent
Para-badminton player from Odisha S.K. Nurul Hossain Khan has made the state proud by winning a gold medal in the individual category of the wheelchair group in the 16th National Para Badminton Championship that was held in Faridabad. The national championship was hosted from January 16 to 18. Nurul has earlier won 18 medals in national championships and eight medals in international meets. His latest achievement can help him get selected for the upcoming international events, said Odisha Paralympic Association secretary Bishnu Charan Sahoo.
Soccer show at Barabati
The Sub-Junior National Football Championship for girls 2015-16 was inaugurated at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack. The first match between Kerala and Gujarat ended 1-1. Ayushi Patel of Gujarat scored the opening goal, while Manisha of Kerala equalised it at 17 minutes of the match. Pondicherry beat Madhya Pradesh 4-0, while Tamil Nadu smashed Himachal Pradesh 19-0. The goal scorer for Tamil Nadu was N.V. Sandhiya (9), M.E Daya (2), A. Manega (3), M. Priyanka (3), S. Priya and Prameswari one goal each. In the match played between Maharashtra and Uttarakhand, Maharashtra won 17-0. The match played between Delhi and Chhattisgarh ended in a draw. The match between Goa and Chhattisgarh ended in a goal less draw.
