Free kicks
The 1st Cuttack City Under-14 Boys’ Football Championship was held on the Cricket Academy ground. In the semi-finals, Nima Sahi Football Club played against Bidanasi Football Club. The Nima Sahi team won the match 1-0. The only goal scorer for the match was Nima Sahi’s Sarik Raheman who was also declared as the man of the match. In the second semi-final, Choudhury Bazaar Football Club met Khannagar Football Club. Choudhury Bazaar won the match by 2-1. The goal scorer for Choudhury Bazaar was Sapan Kumar Samal, who scored a brace at the 12th and 24th minute. The goal scorer for Khannagar was Sunil Sethi. The man of the match award was given to Sapan Kumar Samal for his fantastic performance.
The state sub-junior football team is taking part in the ongoing National Sub-junior Boys’ Football Championship, which is being held at the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi and will continue till April 23. Odisha had qualified for the final round from east zone qualifying round that was held at Cuttack in February. Two players from the state got selected for the National Under-14 camp from the east zone qualifying round. The camp is conducted by the All India Football Federation in Bhopal. The players are Bekay Oram and Srikant Bhoi.
Stick work
The 14th Nalco Cup State Hockey Championship’s final match was hosted at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack between Khurda and Sundargarh. Khurda defeated Sundargarh in the penalty shootout by 3-0. Though none of the teams managed to score a single goal in regular time, the penalty shoot out turned the match into a thriller. Prasanna Tirkey, Alok Barla and Kunjan Topno scored the goals to ensure a victory for Khurda. The late Surendra Behera Memorial Trophy for fair play was presented to Angul.
Over the wicket
The Inter-College Cricket Tournament hosted by the Odisha Cricket Association is under way. Christ College played against Stewart Science College othe Sunshine Ground. Stewart Science College won the toss and elected to bat first but were all out for a paltry score of 63 in 14.4 overs. In reply, Christ College scored 65 with the loss of four wickets in 13.2 overs and won the match by six wickets. At the match played at Bidanasi Ground between Bhubanananda Odisha School of Engineering (Bose), Cuttack and SCB Medical College, the latter got a walkover. The first semi-final was played between Ravenshaw University and SCB Medical College and Hospital teams.
In the Under-19 Inter-district Cricket Tournament, which is also under way at various grounds in Cuttack, four teams have been identified for the quarter-final stage after preparation of the points table for A-I and A-II groups. The selected teams are Cuttack A and Sundergarh from Group A-I and Bhubaneswar A and Jajpur from Group A-II.
Checkmate
The 2nd Triple C All-India FIDE Rating Chess Championship - 2016, organised by Triple C Chess Club in association with the District Chess Association of Puri concluded at Hotel Rumani in Puri. Himal Gusain of Chandigarh, ranked 2,429 emerged champion with 8 points while International Master Himanshu Sharma of Haryana, ranked 2,384 earned 7.5 points to become the runner-up and Abhishek Das of Jharkhand, ranked 2,241 emerged third. The event saw a total of 209 rated players from 16 states. Also, the first State School and Colleges Open Chess Championship was organised by Trident Group of Institutions, Bhubaneswar and Odisha State Chess Association (OSCA) on April 9 and 10 at Trident College, Chandrasekharpur. Anshuman Nanda of St Joseph’s High School, Bhubaneswar, emerged the champion.
Smash it big
The World Table Tennis Day is celebrated worldwide every year on April 6. The members of the Odisha State Table Tennis Association celebrated the occasion along with many state-level players. A good number of budding table tennis players gathered at the Sachin Tendulkar Hall in the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. Former state player and coach Gouri Charan Bose commemorated the day by cutting a cake. The Odisha State Table Tennis Association secretary, Rabindra Kumar Parida, vice-president Chitta Ranjan Mohanty and treasurer Nihar Ranjan Mishra were present along with nearly 50 players. The players also took part in some friendly matches and pledged to bring laurels to the state in the near future.
