Odisha dominate in Buchi Babu cricket
Bhubaneswar: Govind Poddar of Odisha smashed 161 runs and the team dominated the day one by scoring 418 runs by losing all wickets against Baroda in the All India Buchi Babu Invitational Cricket Tournament at Chennai on Monday. Opener Pratik Das and Girija Rout made a strong platform for Odisha by stitching 108 runs. While Pratik scored 61 runs and Girija scored 57 runs. Dependable batsman Govind Poddar made use of the platform and scored 161 runs in the process he and skipper Biplab Samanatry contributed 104 runs for the fourth wicket.
Brief score: Odisha 418/10 in 97.1 overs (Pratik Das 61, Girija Rout 57, Govind Poddar 161, Biplab Samantray 54, Arvind Kumar Singh 27) Vs Baroda .
Keshabananda Memorial Chess begins
Bhubaneswar: On the eve of 100th birth anniversary of late Keshabananda Das’ (first organiser two National tournaments in the State in 1974 and 1975, invited world renowned Russian Chess Coach Yuri Averbakh in 1974 ), Kordha District Chess Association is conducting 3rd Keshabananda Das Memorial All India FIDE Rating Chess Championship (1900 and above rating), which kicks started here on Monday. Total 88 players including three GM, 12 IM, six WGM, six FM and six WFM are participating in the seven-day-long tournament which featuring total cash award of Rs5 lakhs and 31 prizes. Tamilnadu GM MR Venketesh is the top rated of the meet. Total 10 rounds will be played with the time session of 90 minutes with 30 seconds increment from move no. 1. Panchayati Raj and law Minister Aruna Kumar Sahoo inaugurated the meet as chief guest. Among others, Khordha District Chess Association secretary Subhasis Patnaik and All Odisha Chess Association joint secretary Manoj Kumar Panigrahi.
RSP enters Women Football final
Bhubaneswar: local favorite Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) team entered the final of the All Odisha State level Women Football Tournament by defeating Puri at Ispat Stadium in Rourkela on Monday by defeating Kendrapada by 1-0 goal. Arati lakra of the winning team scored the all important goal in the 15th minutes. Chitra Patra, Bishnupriya Dash, Prasant Kumar Pal, T Mohan Rao and Ajaya Mohanty conducted the match as officials. Bhubaneswar would meet Sundargarh in the quarterfinal match on Tuesday. Panpose Sub-collector Himansu Behera inaugurated the match as chief guest in presence of Durga Prasad Mohapatra, Ajya Kumar Jena, Sayab Akmal Ali, Grogary Minz, Sushant Behera, Mahendra Mishra and Bikram Swain.
OSJA to restart Ashok Patnaik memorial award
Bhubaneswar: After a gap of three years the Asok Patnaik Sports Award would be start again from 2015. The prestigious award could not able to confer in last three years due to some unavoidable situation. On the occasion of Patnaik’s death anniversary on Monday, the Odisha Sports Journalists Association (OSJA) members organised a remembrance meeting here. The association members finalised that they would restart the award ceremony. Patnaik was a inspiring sports journalists and he motivated and guided many fellow journalists, said OSJA secretary Suresh Swain. Among others, OSJA working president Sanatan Pani, vice-president Sanjeev Biswal, joint secretary Sambit Mohapatra, Suraya Prasad Rath, Umakanta Mishra, Tapan Swain, D Niranjan Reddy, Tanmay Das, Jagadish Das, Debasis Sundaray.