Council badminton team leaves for Nat’l meet
Bhubaneswar: A 11 member Odisha +2 Council badminton team left from here on Sunday to participate in the National +2 Council Badminton U-19 Championship to be held at Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Indoor Stadium, Balewadi, Pune from May 6 to 9. Altogether five girls and five boys are in the State team has been selected from the State Council championship was held at DRIEMS College, Tangi in the month of January. Rutaparna Panda, Mamun Behera, Cumki Bhanja, Deepurbaloki Bhoi and Himadri Sunani are the five girls player. Similarly, Vikrant Jani, Debasis Mishra, Asis Kumar Sethi, Sidhant Bagarti and Sourav Mohanty are the five boys. The team accompanied by the Samir Kumar Sahoo as coach and manager. Aruna Panigrahi joined the team as official.
6 Odisha hockey eves in Women Core Probables team
Bhubaneswar: Hockey India on Sunday has announced a 32 member women core probables team in which six Odisha player confirmed their name. Deep Grace Ekka, Sunita lakra (both defender), Namita Toppo, lilima Minz (both midfielders), Punam Barla and Anupa Barl (both forward) are in the team. The Preparatory Camp of the Indian Women Core Probable’s team is all set to commence at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi on Monday and will continue till June 10. The camp is for the preparation for the upcoming all important Hockey World league Semi-Final slated in Belgium from June 20 to July 4.
Commenting on the training camp, Director High Performance, Hockey India Roelant Oltmans said, “The team has showcased that they have the capability to win any match, just that they need to work on good ball possession, tackles and passes. The camp will aim to work on these areas and ensure that we finish the games in our favour. I am confident that they will take their game a notch up in the upcoming tournament.”
Probable’s team: Goalkeepers: Yogita Bali, Savita, Rajni Etimarpu, Defenders: Deep Grace Ekka, Deepika, Kirandeep Kaur, Sunita lakra, Gurjit Kaur, Sushila Chanu, M N Ponnamma, Joydeep Kaur, Jaspreet Kaur, Manjit Kaur, Monika, Midfielders; Ritu Rani, Namita Toppo, Chanchan Devi Thokchom, lilima Minz, liliy Chanu, Navjot Kaur, Amandeep Kaur, Renuka Yadav, Soundarya Yendala, Forwards; Vandana Katariya, Rani, Poonam Rani, Ritusha Kumari Arya, Punam Barla, Anupa Barla, Anuradha Devi, Navneet Kaur, Neha Goyal
Sarita bags bronze in Federation Cup Athletic meet
Bhubaneswar: Sarita Singh of Odisha won bronze medal in the women hammer throw event in the 19th Federation Cup National Senior Athletic Championship-2015 which is going on at Mangalore, Karnataka on Sunday. Sarita Singh National Games gold medalist secured bronze medal in her favorite Hammer throw event by throwing 54.97 meter and gold medal received by Uttar Pradesh girls Ritu Dhiman and silver medal won by Punjab girl Sarabjeet Kaur. Their performance was 58.30 and 55.10 meter respectively. In 200 meter both Srabani Nanda and Dutee Chand were qualified for final which will take place on Monday. Purnima Hembram was leading the table in Heptathlon event after compilation of 1st day event.
Rising Student enter Sumit Bose cricket semis
Bhubaneswar: Rising Student entered the semifinal of the Sumit Bose Memorial Junior U-16 Cricket Tournament by defeating Rameswar Sporting by five wickets in Cuttack on Sunday. Winning the toss Rising Student of Cuttack elected to field first, Biswajit Mallick scored an unbeaten 33 runs and the Rameswar Sporting of Bhubaneswar scored 113 runs in 39.2 overs. Sasank Ranguta of Rising student scalped four wickets by giving 24 runs and put the break to Rameswar scoring. In reply, Yogesh Gond smashed an unbeaten 52 runs in 56 balls including nine boundaries and the Rising team reached the winning target in 33.2 overs for the loss of five wickets. Former Odisha ranji player Subrat Behera gave away the man of the match award to Yogesh Gond. Tarini Prasad Das and Chandrasekhar Das conducted the match as umpire. In the quarterfinal match on Monday, Biswabharati Cricket Club of Cuttack would meet Pragati Sporting Club of Bhubaneswar.
Brief Score: Rameswar Sporting 113/10 in 39.2 overs (Biswajit Mallick 33 n.o; Rajesh Mohanty 19; Sasank Ranguta 4/24, Somen Chand 2/22) lost to Rising Student 114/5 in 33.2 overs (Yogesh Gond 52, Narendra Sharma 24 n.o; Simrit Samantary 3/15) by 5 wickets.
Birendra of Odisha completes 100th Int’l Cap
Bhubaneswar: India’s clash against Japan on Sunday at the India-Japan Series marks the 100th International match for Birendra lakra, who as a defender has been a great asset to the Indian Hockey team since his debut on the International platform. It’s great to play 100th international matches for the countray. The 25-year old has been the backbone of the team and even been part of all important international tournaments since he made his debut during the test series against South Africa in 2012. His outstanding performance over the last year resulted in he being adjudged the Player of the Year for 2014 at the first edition of Hockey India Annual Awards announced recently. Congratulating him on the feat, Secretary General Hockey India Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad said, “We congratulate Birendra on his achieving this landmark. He has played a key role in the defence line-up since he started playing for India on the international arena. We wish him all the best for his future endeavours and hope he continues his good form in times to come.”
India, Japan match 1-1 draw in the first match
Bhubaneswar: The first match of the Indo-Japan Series started with great speed and a determination to win. While Japan took the initial lead in the game and was leading the game 1-0, India came back into the game through a brilliant penalty corner conversion by VR Raghunath. Post the equaliser goal both the teams had their chances of going one up but failed to capitalize, resulting in the match getting drawn at 1-1. The game even marked the International debut for Harmanpreet Singh giving India the extra boost with his inclusion in the team.
The first quarter of the match saw both sides testing each other’s defence, while even trying to put pressure by capitalizing on the initial goal. As the quarter progressed both India and Japan maintained their attacks but were unable to score on the opportunities resulting in a dry run. In the 19th minute a long pass by Hiroki Sakamoto to Daichi Kurogawa who was standing right in front of the goal box and who on his part deflected it into the nets giving no chance for the Indian goalie to react, resulting in Japan opening the scorecard 1-0. While this left the Indian men stunned but it did not deter their determination. Just five minutes left into the second quarter Japan again had a chance at the goal but this time PR Sreejesh cleared effortlessly.
Minutes left into the quarter India increased its attack and Akashdeep tried put the ball into the nets through a backstroke but was saved by the Japan goalie. Unable to equalize the game at the end of first half Japan was leading the game 1-0. Five minutes left into the third quarter India had a chance to score when a pass to Dharamvir Singh in the D was deflected towards the nets but unfortunately for India the Japan goalie saved. Same minute India again had a chance but Akashdeep failed to finish the touch, going on to lose the chance to score.