Checkmate
The Bhubaneswar Chess Association will host the Sundeep Mohanty Memorial Open Chess Tournament at the Odisha Secretariat Recreation Club in Bhubaneswar from November 8. The eight-round tournament will be a three-day affair. In another development, DAV School, Pokhariput, hosted a mega chess awareness camp in the city where 1,200 students were introduced to the intricacies of chess and matches were hosted for them on Monday.
Top spin
Asif Haque and Samartha Prusty emerged champions in the men’s and women’s singles titles, respectively, in the 10th edition of the All-Odisha Ranking Table Tennis Tournament hosted by the Khurda District Table Tennis Association at the Saheed Nagar indoor hall. Bhubaneswar girl Samartha defeated top seeded Ananya Basak of Khurda in the women’s final, while men’s top seed Asif Haque clinched the crown in a family duel where he played against his elder brother Tousif. Samartha’s younger brother Krishan claimed the sub-junior crown, defeating Sahil Suman Bhuyan of Cuttack 4-0. Ananya, however, grabbed the title in the junior girls’ category. The other five singles champions of the three-day tournament were Sushree Patnaik, Sahil Suman Bhuyan, Payal Pani, Janmejaya Moharana and Bikash Singh.
Free kicks
The quarter-finals of the 12th Gati Krushna Memorial B Division Football League, conducted by Bhubaneswar Athletic Association at Unit-I Boys’ High School, got over recently. The tournament began on September 12. The eight participating teams at the quarter-finals were Oriental Warriors (A-1), Bir Birsa Youth Club (A-2), MS Eleven (B-1), Mukteswar Sporting (B-2), JSJS Bhabani Football Club (C-1), JSJS Golak Bihari Football Club (C-2), Neel Kamal Football Club (D-1) and Regional Football Club (D-2). Oriental Warriors, Bir Birsa, MS Eleven and Neel Kamal have reached the semifinals of the tournment. The final is scheduled on November 6. Altogether, 20 teams had taken part in this year’s league.
Drag flick
The 72nd State Police Hockey Championship 2015 is under way at the Panposh Hockey Hostel in Rourkela where 20 units of Odisha Police are taking part. The tournament will conclude on November 6. Hockey Odisha will soon be adopting the Hockey 5s or five-a-side hockey matches starting from the school-level as part of Hockey India’s extensive programme of promoting the new shorter version of the sport. Hockey Odisha has announced to host tournaments in this format from December.
Yorkers & swingers
Odia pacer Basant Mohanty’s hat-trick was the highlight of the Ranji match between Odisha and Delhi hosted at the KIIT Ground in Bhubaneswar. The match ended in a draw with as many as 18 wickets falling on the final day. Following a strong total of 311 by Delhi in their first innings, Odisha managed only 217. In their second innings, the three top order batsmen of Delhi scored half centuries and declared their innings at 193 for 9. Odisha scored 88 chasing a target of 288 on the final day. The visitors gained three points while the host team got only one point.
