Players from the state have won several medals in various sporting events from cricket to shooting. A number of championships were also on in different disciplines.
Smash & jab
In the 1st RN Singh Deo Memorial All -Odisha State Ranking Table Tennis Championship, hosted at MB Dharamshala in Balangir, Khurda girls dominated in most categories. While Sushree Patnaik and Yoshita Jamula won the cadet girls’ and the sub-junior event titles respectively, Ananya Basak won the junior and the women’s singles titles. Ananya bagged the double titles beating Bhubaneswar girl Suryasmita Aparajita in the junior category and Pousali Ghatak, who was representing AG Odisha, in the women's singles. Playing for RBI, Asif Haque grabbed the men’s singles title while Cuttack boys Sahil Sunder Bhuyan, Arya S. Mahaprastha, M. Ishwar and Rourkela Steel Plant paddler Bikash Singh won the various boys’ titles. The event was organised by the Balangir District Table Tennis Association.
Bagging bronze
Ace Odia shooter Shriyanka Sadangi won the bronze medal in the 10m Air rifle junior women’s event at the ongoing 8th Asian Airgun Shooting Championship, 2015, in New Delhi. The gold and silver went to shooters from the Islamic Republic of Iran. Shriyanka has recently graduated from St Stephen’s College, New Delhi, and is now pursuing her masters from Delhi University.
Rugby rules roost
KISS Under-13 Boys’ Rugby team, representing India, left for London to play in the Touraid U-13 International Boys' Rugby Tournament-2015 scheduled to be held between September 30 and October 10. Ten teams - India, Laos, Kenya, Botswana, Uganda, Swaziland, Africa, Colombia, England and Hong Kong - are participating in the tournament. The team members who will represent India are Makaranda Pradhan (captain), Ajoy Singh, Gajendra Baskey, Priyaranjan Mallick, Jitendra Naik, Saral Hansda, Prakash Dharua, Hasrat Majhi, Pabitra Majhi and Tapan Kumar Bhoi. Rajkishore Murmu is the coach and Rudrakesh Jena is the manager of the team.
Nehru Cup hockey tournament
The junior boys’ and girls’ hockey teams of the State Sports Hostel at Panposh won the state-level Nehru Cup hosted in Rourkela. They will now represent Odisha at the national-level Nehru Cup to be held in New Delhi. Both teams beat KISS hockey teams in the finals by equal margins of 6-0 in one-sided matches. Both the winning team members are from Birsa Munda High School, which has won the championship on more than 15 occasions.
Football coaching
The Third Grassroots Centre of Football Association of Odisha (FAO) was inaugurated at the Khannagar playground in Cuttack under the aegis of Young Utkal Club and Mangala Club. All India Football Federation-trained grassroots coaches Siba Swain and Krishna Das will train around 30 children at the centre. FAO joint secretary Sangita Sharma, president of Young Utkal Club Kailash Chandra Sahoo, football coach and former state player Jannardan Jena were present at the opening ceremony of the centre. In another football-related news, KISS team won the 26th Bhubaneswar Inter-School Football Tournament at Unit-VI Boys’ High School ground by defeating six-time winners Sainik School 3-1.
Cricket cameo
Odisha eves won the Under-19 East Zone Women’s One Day league tournament in Dhanbad winning three of the four league matches. They beat Tripura by 149 runs in the fourth match. Odisha also qualified for the super league stage, which will take place at Guntur in Andhra Pradesh and and Cuttack from October 5-19.
Honour for umpire
The Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) Umpires’ Association felicitated Kalyan Roy Choudhury, the senior-most OCA Panel Umpire, with the 1st Harmohan Praharaj Memorial Award for his contribution towards the sport. Association secretary Asirbad Behera gave away the award and citation to Roy Choudhury at a function held at the OCA conference hall in Barabati Stadium, Cuttack. He has conducted eight BCCI matches and more than 1,500 matches organised by the association. The award has been named in honour of Harmohan Praharaj (1957-2013), who represented the state team in Ranji Trophy.
