This week in sports was all about work and play. The women’s football league kicked off at Barabati Stadium. While some players displayed their spirit of competition in Muay Thai and chess, others showed off their skills in the physically trying kabaddi meet. Youngsters Asif Haq, Tausif Haq and Samartha Prusty emerged victorious at the table tennis championship. The Telegraph takes a look at these thrilling sporting events.

Goal-den girls

The first edition of AT Group Women Football League-2011 organised by Football Association of Orissa kicked-off at Barabati Stadium under floodlights on August 15. Ten teams, including Rising Students Club, Morning Club, Mangala Club, Radharaman and Chand Club, are participating in the tournament that is on till August 28. In the inaugural match, Radharaman Club defeated Morning Club, 2-0. The goal scorers for Radharaman Club were Sulochana Malik and Sarojini Tirkey.

Champion trio

Asif Haq, Tausif Haq and Samartha Prusty have emerged champions in different segments of the 19th State-Level Open Table Tennis Tournament that concluded on August 12 at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. A total of 206 participants from 16 districts had participated in the tournament, which was organised by Young Generation Table Tennis Association (YGTTA). The matches were held in nine different categories including men, women, youth, junior and sub-junior categories. Asif won the junior and youth boys' titles, while brother Tausif defeated him to claim the men's singles title. Like Asif, Samartha won a double by winning the junior girls' and women's singles titles. Soumya Ranjan Pati, Tithi Prakash Dalai, Subhendu Dutta and Anjali Agarwal were the other champions at the event.

Tough tug

The annual regional sports meet of Kendriya Vidyalaya got off to a colourful start on Tuesday. A total of 197 girl students from 17 out of 87 Kendriya Vidyalayas under the Bhubaneswar region are participating in the regional sports meet-cum-selection camp at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Cuttack, in the kabaddi event. Out of the 197 participants, 12 girl students will be selected to represent Orissa in the national sports meet in kabaddi scheduled from October 8 in New Delhi. Before that, the selected participants will undergo a coaching camp scheduled from September 30 to October 5.

Checkmate kids

The National Under-9 Chess Championship, which was on at the Koustuv Group of Institutions in Bhubaneswar, ended on Sunday. Sourav Anand from Bihar and N. Priyanka from Andhra Pradesh emerged the champions in the nine-day event. Sourav defeated Subhasis Barik of Orissa to clinch nine points and win the title, while Priyanka secured 9.5 points to become the new national U-9 champion after she drew her game with D.P. Ganapati of Goa. Ram Aravind of Tamil Nadu and Anwesha Mishra of Orissa secured the runners-up positions in boys and girls groups, respectively. The top two from each group qualify for the world championships while the rest three qualify for Asian championships. Meanwhile, the Orissa State U-13 Chess Championship will begin from August 19 at Centurion University of Technology, Jatni. In the World Junior Chess Championship on in Chennai, Woman Grandmaster Padmini Rout emerged fourth after defeating Olga Girya of Russia in the final round. She had secured the third position last year and won a bronze medal. She had started as the fifth seed this year.

Hard talk

A four-day national kickboxing seminar concluded on Sunday at the Royal College of Science and Technology, Bhubaneswar. The seminar included sessions conducted by experts on first-aid, sports injury and medicine, boxing techniques, diet and nutrition, physiotherapy, sports massage, sports psychology and biomechanics. More than 150 delegates from all over the country took part in the event. The event was organised by All Orissa Kickboxing Association under the aegis of National Kickboxing Federation.

Martial moment

Participants from Orissa performed brilliantly at the National Muay Thai Championship that was held in Hyderabad from August 5 to 7. Muay Thai is a kind of martial sport. The state finished third in the championships by winning 19 medals, including four gold and six silver medals. Sangramjeet Swain, Chinmay Samantaray, Gagan Bihari Singh, Swarna Sikha Biswal were the gold medallists. Manipur and Nagaland emerged champion and runners-up, respectively.

Sticking around

A women’s hockey exhibition match was held on the occasion of Independence Day in Rourkela. The Orissa XI vs Madhya Pradesh XI match was organised by Odisha Veteran Hockey Association with the help of Rourkela Steel Plant at Biju Patnaik hockey stadium.

Class act

A two-day karate coaching camp in the Shukokai tradition was held at the Utkal Karate School in Bhubaneswar. Twenty-two coaches from all over the state took part in the camp. Vice-president of All India Karate Association and Shukokai Karate 6th Dan Hariprasad Patnaik organised the event where successful candidates of the recently held Dan tests were awarded with certificates. The camp concluded on Monday.