Laurels for state chess players
Biswajit Nayak of Khurda emerged champion of the three-day State U-25 Chess Championship by scoring 6.5 points at Swami Vivekananda Institute in Bhubaneswar on June 5. Ansuman Samal of Cuttack, Sambit Panda of Khurda and Nilsu Pattnaik of Cuttack scored six points each and finished second, third and fourth, respectively. The top four players of the state meet will represent Odisha in the National U-25 Open Chess Championship-2017, which will be held in Andaman and Nicobar Islands from July 13 to 20.
Win & defeat
A double goal haul by Rahul Mukhi guided Oorja boys' team to win the FAO-XI by 4-0 in a friendly football match held on June 5. Bada Hembram and Kunwar Singh of Oorja team scored one goal each. Football Association of Odisha chief executive officer Sibhashish Behera attended the match as a guest. This apart, the journey of the state women's football team ended in 22nd Senior Women's National Football Championship as the team suffered a defeat from Manipur by 1-2 goals at Phagwara in Punjab on Saturday.
Kabaddi event
The team Kaveri emerged champions of the 2nd Women Premier Kabaddi League by defeating Kuakhaei by 37-24 in the final match held at Patia in Bhubaneswar on June 4. Winning team captain Rasmita Sahoo received the best raider award, while Puspamita Jena of Kathojodi and Manaswini Sahoo of Kuakhaei got the best catcher and cover awards, respectively. The champion team received a cash award of Rs 10,000 and the runners-up got Rs 8,000. Many prominent players and coaches attended the event to share their tips with the players.
Sprinters’ feat
Odisha sprinters grabbed four gold and four silver medals in the four-day 21st Federation Cup Senior National Athletics Championship, which concluded in Patiala on June 4. With the feat, they have secured their place in the forthcoming 22nd Asian Athletics Championships scheduled to be held at Kalinga Stadium from July 6 to 9. Dutee Chand and Amiya Kumar Mallick bagged gold medals each in the women and men 100metre events by clocking 11.48 and 10.51 seconds, respectively. In the women's 100metre event, Srabani Nanda of Odisha clinched a silver medal with a timing of 11.57 seconds while Purnima Hemram grabbed silver in the hepatathlon event by scoring 5632 points. Srabani and Dutee received gold and silver medals in the women's 200-metre event by clocking 23.57 and 23.60 seconds, respectively.
Umpire hire
Hockey India has appointed Nishan Jyoti Mohanty from Odisha as the umpire for 7th Hockey India Senior National Championship 2017 (B Division) to be held in Lucknow from June 5 to 17. Earlier, Mohanty had successfully officiated as umpire in Hockey India’s sub-junior national, junior national and senior national hockey tournaments.
Rugby camp
Around 39 female rugby players under the age of 18, including six from Odisha, took part in a weeklong training camp that concluded at CCFC ground in Calcutta recently. Rugby India organised the camp in which state players Sumitra Nayak, Basanti Pangi, Rajani Sabar, Lija Sardar, Jemanai Naik and Soni Mandangi took part.
