Delhi lift National BSNl Cricket trophy

Bhubaneswar: The centurion innings of Niranjan Behera gone to vain as Odisha suffered defeat from NTR Delhi by four wickets in the nail biting final match and Delhi emerged champion of the 14th All India BSNl Cricket Tournament, which concluded at East Coast Railway Ground here on Saturday. Winning the toss Odisha elected to bat first, Niranjan smashed 131 runs and well supported by Priyabrata Pradhan who contributed 66 runs. The devastating bowling of Rohit Mehera who claimed six wickets by giving 37 runs and restricted Odisha for 254 runs in 49.4 overs.

In reply, opener Varun Kumar and Bishama Mitra of Delhi scored 62 and 35 runs respectively and set a brilliant platform for the team. NS Nagi added fuel to the total by scoring 57 runs, but the real hero of the final match was Nitin Agrawal who scored unbeaten 21 runs and smashed a boundary in the final ball and scripted victory for the Delhi team. Niranjan Behera and Tukuna Sahu of the runners-up team received the best batsman and player of the tournament awards respectively. Rohit Mehera of the champion team received the best bowler award. Bikash Pati, Priyabrata Pradhan, Nirnajan Behere (vice-captain), Tukuna sahu and BBCC Mohapatra of Odisha BSNl got selected in the national BSNl cricket team. The team will participate in the All India PSU Cricket Tournament.

CGM State Bank of India Krishna Mohan Trivedi distributed the prizes as the chief guest of the closing ceremony. Among others, CGM BSNl NK Bhoi, PGM (CM) B Mishra, GM (NOCC) AK Kalia, CP Ravi Kumar, GMTD Sr Dr PK Hota and Avinna Kumar Pahi were present.

Brief score: Odisha 254/10 in 49.4 overs (Niranjan Behera 131, Priyabrata Pradhan 66; Rohit Mehera 6/37) lost to NTR Delhi 257/6 in 50 overs (NS Negi 57, Varun Kumar 62, Bishma Mitra 35, Jogindar Singh 27, Rohit Mehera 27, Nitin Agrawal 21 n.o; Sujan Mohanty 2/40) by 4 wickets.

Bhubaneswar to meet SAIl in Gangapur gold final

Bhubaneswar: Sports Hostel would meet SAIl Hockey Academy in the final of the 1st Gangapur Gold Cup Hockey Tournament at  Biju Pattnaik Hockey Stadium in Rourkela on Sunday. In the semifinals on Saturday, Bhubaneswar defeated East Coast Railway by 4-1 goals and SAIl edged out Panposh Sports Hostel by 2-1 goals. Roshan Khlko of Panposh and Joseph Tappo of Railway received the man of the match award in their respective semifinal matches and got `2,000 each.

The champion and the runners-up would receive `1 lakh and `50,000 respectively. Similarly the third and fourth finishers would get `25,000 and 10,000 respectively.

No fun without accommodating players: lAKRA

Bhubaneswar: I feel proud to be the first Odia hockey player got the opportunity to play international match on my home ground and in front of my home crowd, said Birendra lakra. I will look at giving my best and support Sardar Singh at the mid field position. The team is looking confident under Roleant and he is helping us in closing the loops and giving us tips which we are inculcating in our play. Playing against Germany on the first day, the team is confident of a win and we are putting our strategies together by watching videos and our last few clashes against them, added lakra. In the international matches as a defender my job is to follow the man to man marking strategy, one miss by the defence will cost a lot to the team.

Regarding the forthcoming Hockey India league (HIl) in my opinion if you cannot accommodate local players in the team, what is the fun to have the franchiseIJ In Ranchi Rays we are five Odisha players in comparison to three in Kalinga lancer.

I strongly believe that the potential of Odisha hockey players are immense, if we can contribute to neighboring State why not to our State. The elimination of former captain of Kalinga lancer Prabodh Tirkey and Manjeet Kulu from the team is a sorry state of affairs.  They should have got at least notice before one month for the fitness test, added lakra.

India all set to take on Germany

Bhubaneswar: Discharging duel responsibility in a crucial tournament is not a new thing for me. This is second time I am discharging duel responsibility for the second time. In my opinion we cannot predict the results. We are loking the tournament very simple away, we will focus match by match and set a target to reach in top four, said Indian hockey’s High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans. The dual charge is not burdening me, because I am not alone we are a team of five here, team manager Sangwan Sandeep, stand-in manager Khandker Tushar, assistant coach Sebastian Jude and physiotherapist Jince Thomas everybody is putting their best to prepare the team as best as we can for the Champions Trophy in the absence of just-retired coach Terry Walsh, added Oltmans. Every coach is having their own style of functioning but basic intention is to prepare a best team. The final touches of the coaches are different. The team is in good shape and won the Asian championship and Australian test tour, but that was a past story. The champion’s trophy is altogether new ball games, we have to concentrate more while competing with Germany, Australia and Netherlands, said Oltams. I am a guest in this country, the player’s attitude and behavior definitely different from my country. Now my job is to understand them and put my ideas in a different manner and the team is growing day by day, said Dutchman Oltmans. 

Rajeswari bags silver in National Jr Athletic meet

Bhubaneswar: Rajeswari Bhoi bagged silver medal in girls-20 heptathlon event of the30th National Junior Athletic Championship-2014 at Vijayawada on Saturday. Rajeswari has scored 4258 points. In this event gold medal received by  M Sowmiya of Tamilnadu with 4274 points and bronze medal received by Mareena George of Kerala with 4098 points. Other Odisha players, Salmi Kispota finished 4th in Girls-16 Discus event and Samsara begum secured 7th position. Odisha has received one gold, one silver and three bronze medals as on Saturday.

Santosh trophy player Sudam Sahoo dies

Bhubaneswar: Santosh trophy 1967 participant Sudam Sahoo passes away on Friday,  Football Association of Orissa expresses its deep condolence on the sad demise of Sudam Sahoo who was a football player of the State  of high repute. He had represented our state in the 1967 Santosh Trophy.   He was also an employee of Rourkela Steel Plant. We pray to the almighty his soul may rest in peace and give strength to his grief stricken family members to bear the loss of the departed soul.FAO secretary Sanjay Behera and the Members of Football Association of Odisha has expressed deep condolence on the sad demise of Sudam.