Lots of runs A run feast was witnessed at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack where Orissa and Saurashtra played their Ranji Trophy match. Saurashtra scored 545, to which Orissa replied with 494 runs at the end of the fourth day. While Saurashtra player Ravindra Jadeja scored a massive 314, Nataraj Behera scored a double ton and took the Orissa team to a strong position in the Elite – A group match. None of the teams were given any points for the drawn match. The Orissa Cricket Association (OCA) declared a cash award of Rs 1 lakh for Behera for his brilliant performance. In women’s cricket, the Senior Women One-Day East Zone League begun on November 2 and is being played at different venues across Cuttack. The Orissa team emerged victorious against Assam with Swagatika Rath scoring 48. However, the Orissa players lost their match against Tripura by 13 runs on Sunday. The tournament will end on November 12.
On board In the National Premier Women’s Chess Championship on in Chennai, woman grandmaster (WGM) Padmini Rout, who had defeated Tania Sachdev to claim the top spot, lost to Mary Ann Gomes and slipped to second position. On the other hand, Oriya WGM Kiran Manisha held on to the joint third spot by defeating J. Saranya of Tamil Nadu.
New records The 59th state weightlifting championship concluded last week at Utkal Karate School in Bhubaneswar. Ganjam won the team championship title whereas Khurda emerged runners-up. The two-day event saw a number of state records being set by promising weightlifters from Berhampur. Narasingha Sethi lifted 125kg and 151kg in the snatch and clean-and-jerk events, respectively, to set the record. Sita Jena lifted 78kg to break her own record of 76kg. Arun Kumar Shanta also created a state records in snatch and clean-and-jerk events while Sushant Sahu set a snatch record of 98kg in his weight category.
Mallakhamb tourney The 19th Orissa State Mallakhamb Championship, held at Berhampur Stadium last week, concluded with Puri emerging champions in the team event as well as boys and girls category titles. While Sujata Ray won the senior girls’ title, Prakash Gochhi emerged champion in senior boys’ event. Umakanta Sahoo, Srilata Ray, Rekiprava Ray, Padmini Patnaik, Anam Charan Ray and Deepak Budek were the other champions in different categories of the event that saw participation of 50 mallakhamb gymnasts from six districts. The two-day event was organised by Ganjam District Yoga, Mallakhamb Association and Orissa State Mallakhamb Association.
Athletics medals The 27th National Junior Athletics Championship 2011 was held at Birsa Munda Sports Complex, Ranchi, Jharkhand, from November 1 to 4. The Orissa contingent, consisting of 16 athletes, participated in it. Rairangpur’s Purnima Hembram claimed the 100m gold in hurdles comfortably with a timing of 14.49 seconds. The second gold came from Jajpur’s Dutee Chand in the sprint event with a timing of 12.19 seconds. Sundargarh boy Champa Tirkey, who currently stays at Cuttack SAI Sports Hostel, secured a bronze medal in the boys U-16, 100m hurdles with a timing of 14.43 seconds.
