Preenu Yadav and Ramesh Kumar emerged champions in the 21.1-kilometre men and women categories, respectively, in the third edition of the Tata Steel Bhubaneswar Half Marathon held recently. In the 10km event, Manoj Singh and Rita Bhadauria took top honours in the men and women segments, respectively.
Bablu Patra and Sabita Mahanta clinched titles in the 5km men and women category, respectively. Ramesh and Preenu bagged a cash award of Rs 1,00,000 each. Around 4500 people took part in the event.
The half-marathon, organised by Tata Steel in association with state sports and youth services department, was flagged off by governor S. C. Jamir.
Martial arts
State fighters put up a great show to win three gold medals in the recently concluded Fitness Expo and Martial Arts Championship in Mumbai. Satyabrata Behuria won two gold metals in the 57kg category of grappling and the 60kg category of the mixed martial arts events. Srikant Sekhar bagged the gold medal in the 80 kg category in grappling. Odisha Mixed Martial Arts Association members congratulated both the fighters for their success.
Karate fighters
Payal Baral clinched a gold medal in the women's 68kg fight category at the recently concluded National Senior Karate Championships in Calcutta. This was state's second gold at the meet.
Tiebreaker
The Yazdani-73 Club, Bhubaneswar, emerged winner in the State Level Football Championships beating the Chand Club, Cuttack, by 2-0 in a tiebreaker in the finals held in Cuttack on January 14. The match ended without any goals in the stipulated time. In the ensuing shootout, the Yazdani-73 converted two of their five chances, while the Chand Club wasted all shots. Dikhsyam Bagi was adjudged the player of the final while Rent Murmu bagged the best player of the tournament award.
Runners-up
Odisha finished runners-up with a total of 36 medals, including eight gold medals, 16 silver and 12 bronze medals, in the 28th National Kayaking and Canoeing Championships that had recently held in Bhopal. Madhya Pradesh emerged champions in the competition. Thirty players from the state took part in the meet.
Cricket tournament
Rameswar Sporting, Bhubaneswar, emerged champions in the Gopinathpur Challenger Trophy Cricket Tournament beating Rising Student by one wicket in a keenly contested match at Bhadrak on January 14.
Opting to bat, Rising Student scored for 119 runs in 21 overs. Pratik Das, who was adjudged man of the match for his all-round show, scored 55 runs.
Women powerlifters
State women's team emerged champions in the recently concluded National Junior Powerlifting Championships at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. Devi Singh was adjudged Strong Woman in the competition. She lifted a total of 347.5 kg in the 42kg category to clinch the gold medal. Simarani Singh, Laxmi Singh and Priyadarshini Bisoi lifted total of 227.5kg, 287.5kg and 392.5 kg in the 43kg, 47kg and 72kg categories, respectively, to clinch gold metals. Bharati Patra and Rupali Palei bagged bronze medals in the 43kg and 47kg categories after lifting total of 207.5kg and 277.5kg.
Chess master
Manas Ranjan Parida clinched the title of the Bhubaneswar Open Chess Championship that concluded on Sunday. Manas took the top honours with a total of 8.5 points from nine rounds. Prabhat Kumar Ojha finished runners-up with eight points, while Sarbeswar Sahoo finished third with seven points.
Tennis meet
Chinmay Pradhan and Anaam Almas emerged champions in the men's and women's categories, respectively in the Gurukul Open Tennis Championships on Sunday. Anaam also combined with Ajay Nishank to clinch the mixed doubles title. In a keenly contested men's segment in the finals, Chinmay defeated Kabir. In the women's category, Anaam prevailed over Ananya Yadav.
