Camp for budding cricketers
The Paramount Sportings recently organised a pre-season summer camp for its budding cricketers in Bhubaneswar. The camp was organised to train young talents on batting, bowling, fielding and physical conditioning. Sixty cricketers, within 11 to 23 years of age, took part in the camp. Cricketers, including Tanmay Pattnaik, Dipti Ranjan Jena, Chita Ranjan Swain, Rashmi Ranjan Das, Sampad Pattnaik, Debabrata Pattnaik and Mohammad Abdul Aziz, conducted the camp. Former Ranji trophy players also shared their experiences and tips with the youngsters.
Exhibition
The Odisha chapter of National Adventure Foundation organised an exhibition at Industrial Development Corporation Of Odisha Limited (Idcol) auditorium in Bhubaneswar last week. Hockey player Dillip Tirkey inaugurated the exhibition of adventure sports equipment and pictures. A sports workshop was also conducted at Konark. Youngsters took part in various adventure sports activities and fun games at the workshop. About 200 youth delegates from various educational institutions and youth clubs took part in the workshop, which was conducted by Odisha National Adventure Foundation (NAF) director R.K. Bhuiya.
Odisha squad
An 18-member athletic squad from Odisha will take part in the 21st Federation Cup Senior Athletic Championship in Patiala from June 1 to 4. A record number of 116 players from across the country will take part in the men's 100-metre race, while 35 athletes will take part in the women's 100-metre race. Some of the prominent athletes from the state include Amiya Kumar Mallick, Dutte Chand and Srabani Nanda.
Conference
A state-level conference on the Olympic Task Force was held at Kalinga Stadium on May 26. The conference involved former international players, officials, coaches, journalists and budding talents. It aimed to explore suggestions on sports development in the state. Odisha was the 24th state where the conference was held. The target was to look out for coaches and sports scientists for 2020, 2024 and 2028 Olympics and also to search new talents.
Football coach
Odisha’s maiden soccer coach Shuvendu Panda has been shortlisted by Raymond Verheijen, founder of World Football Academy, for an expert football conditioning and periodisation coaching programme in Portugal from May 30 to June 3. Shuvendu had taken part in a football conditioning and periodisation mentorship programme in Amsterdam last year. He was the first Indian coach to get an invitation for the programme and the first Odia to get AFC-A licensing certificate under Scott O'donell.
Tennis stars
Kabir Hans and Tejasvi Mehra from Maharashtra lost to Dev Javia and Madhwin Kamath from Gujarat by 2-6, 4-6 in the boys' under-16 doubles final at the National Tennis Championship Tournament in Pune on May 26. Earlier, in the singles event, Kabir had performed well by reaching the third round, losing to Calvin of Gujarat in a close three set match.
Altogether, six players from Odisha were in the main draw, including Rutuparna Choudhury, who lost in the fourth round of girls' under-16 singles.
