The 4th edition of the Hockey India League is all set to begin. It is already generating a lot of excitement generated a lot of excitement among sports lovers across the state. Plenty of tennis, football and cricket action took place in the last week.

Perfect ace

Promising tennis player Rituparna Choudhary started the New Year by winning the singles title at the 3rd All-Odisha Open Tennis Tournament hosted at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. She beat Ameek Kiran Bath in straight sets in the finals. In the men's singles, Ansu Kumar Bhuyan defeated Avinash Mallick, his doubles partner, to win the title while the pair won the doubles title together.

Football fever 

The state women’s team reached the semi-finals of the 21st Senior Women’s National Football Championship at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh. However, it lost 0-4 to Manipur in the final round. Odia girls registered three victories int he tournament. They defeated Uttar Pradesh, Goa and Tamil Nadu. The business end of the tournament will begin from Wednesday. Pyari Xaxa continued to be the ace striker with seven goals and was the solo striker against the Uttar Pradesh team that lost 5-0, with all goals to her name. The All-India Football Federation has selected two Odia players  — Pyari Xaxa and Sakina Nesa  for the Senior Women’s National Coaching Camp for the Indian team's participation at the 12th South Asian Games scheduled to be held in Shillong, Meghalaya, from February 5. The camp will be held at Shillong itself from January 17. 

Also, the Tata Football Academy will conduct a talent search programme for its 2016 batch in Cuttack on February 6 and 7 in association with teh Football Association of Odisha, for which one can get information at the stadium office.

Cricket jitters

While the state’s men lost all their matches in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T-20 Tournament, the women also lost their super league match against the railways with cricketer Mithali Raj scoring a half-century for the opposition in the Senior Women’s T-20 Tournament at Indore in Madhya Pradesh. Odisha women’s cricket team had won three consecutive matches against Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab in the elite league matches earlier, before losing to Goa. On Tuesday too, the team lost to Goa by eight wickets. Odisha will play Maharshtra next. 

 

 

 

 

Powerlifting glory

In the Subrat Classic International Powerlifting Championship hosted in Jamshedpur, three powerlifters from Odisha bagged medals. While Pradeep Patra and Chandra Mohan Bisoi bagged gold medals, Ashok Prasad bagged a silver medal. President of the Odisha Powerlifting Association Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo and secretary of the association Chittaranjan Swain congratulated the winners.

Hockey high

The Odisha school girls’ hockey team (under-14 ) was welcomed at Rourkela railway station on Saturday on their return after winning the National School Hockey Tournament at Ranchi defeating Jharkhand 5-2 in the final. 

Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar is all set to host matches of the upcoming Hockey India League which is into its fourth edition this year. The venue will host games of the home franchise Kalinga Lancers from January 18. In the opening match, Kalinga Lancers will play against the Uttar Pradesh Wizards. In the rest of the home matches, the Lancers will meet Dabang Mumbai on January 21, Delhi Wave Riders on February 5, Punjab Warriors on February 7 and Ranchi Rays on February 8 respectively. The home team has started its practice from January 10 in the Kalinga Sports Complex.