Magic moves 

Khurda District Chess Association is organising the 5th Bhubaneswar All-India FIDE Rating Chess Championship from December 10 to 15 on Infosys campus. This FIDE rating championship is exclusively for women players and 44 participants have already registered their names. The top seed of the tournament as of now is International Master Vijayalakshmi  Subbaraman of Air India ( FIDE rating 2,351). The prize money of Rs 3.03 lakh will be distributed among the 33 winners including 20 merit holders, eight winners in rating categories and five different age groups (Under-7, Under-9, Under-11, Under-13 & Under-15) players. The Radhakanta Memorial trophy will be awarded to the top three winners and five age group winners. The championship will be organised under the aegis of All-Odisha Chess Association and under the guidance of All-India Chess Federation. The championship got the recognition and approval of FIDE, the apex world body which awards titles and world rankings, informed the hosts.

Cue star

Ashutosh Padhy , the state junior billiards and snooker champion was also the winner of the state senior billiards event that was held recently, Ashutosh Padhy beat Jiten Sarangi 5-0 (78-66, 66-27, 56-46, 65-23, 58-35) in the 1st semi-final of the State Senior Snooker Championship hosted at Vintage Club in Bhubaneswar. Jiten reached the top four seeding position for the first time in State Senior Snooker State Championship. In the 2nd semi-final, Nishant Biswal beat Subrat Das 5-4 (57-35, 61-43, 27-63, 08-72, 79-71, 21-71, 55-13, 21-38, 56-21) in an exciting and nail-biting match. The final was under way when news of the event came on Tuesday.

Advance step

Local favourites BJB College, Bhubaneswar, beat Raghunath Jew College from Cuttack 52-41 in the final to emerge champions in the Utkal University Inter-College Men’s Basketball Tournament, which concluded at Vani Vihar recently. Nirlipt Nihar Parija with 21 points was the top scorer for BJB College. His teammates Koustuv Ray and Darsit Sam Behera contributed 14 and 10 points respectively. For Raghunath Jew College, Prakash Jena was the highest scorer with 20 points. Only seven colleges took part in the tournament. Utkal University Sports Council (UUSC) director Jayant Kumar Parida handed over the trophy at the closing ceremony. The UUSC sports officer Ambika Prasad Ray was present on the occasion.

Cover drives

The 2nd Harmohan Praharaj Memorial Inter School Cricket Tournament is being held at Rourkela. Hosted by the Rourkela Gymkhana,16 teams from Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are taking part in the tournament that began from December 1. The league matches are over and eight teams have qualified for the super league. They are DAV School, Ib Thermal Power Station from Banharpali, Deepika EM School from Rourkela, SBD International School from Bhadrak, Kadma High School from Jamshedpur, Arnodhaya Public School from Bhilai, Vikash Residential School from Bargarh and KISS, Bhubaneswar. In a match held on Tuesday between Kadma High School of Jamshedpur and Vikash Residential School, Bargarh at Sector-18 at theIspat Vidyalaya Ground, Vikash Residential School won by 18 runs.

In a different development,  participation for theVijay Hazare Trophy Group-C League 2015-16 to be held from December 10 to 18 at New Delhi, Natraj Behera has been named captain while Govind Poddar is the vice-captain for Odisha. Rajesh Dhuper has been selected as wicket keeper while Paresh Patel, Biplab Samantray and Basant Mohanty have also found their place in the team.

Goals galore
 

The First Division Football Legaue, hosted by the Football Association of Odisha (FAO) at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack is under way. The super league phase comprises 12 teams who are vying for a semi-final berth. In the recently held matches, Sunrise Club battered Sports Hostel by scoring 6 goals on Monday. Stanely Ifirengi Eze scored three and Soo Sai Raj scored two goals. In another match held on Monday, SAI Training Centre won 3-1 against Radha Gobind Club. Rajesh Nayak scored a brace while Saswat Swain scored one goal for the winning team. The goal scorer for Radha Gobinda Club was Mukesh Bhoi. Other super league qualifiers are Radha Raman Club, Rising Students Club, Bidanasi Club, Jay Durga Club, Independent Club, Chand Club, Rising Star Club and Odisha Police.