Bibek captures Juniors Open title
Bhubaneswar: Bibek Sardar kept his cool to capture the Bhubaneswar Junior Open title, the sixth leg of the Tata Steel IGU East Zone Junior Tour which concluded at the Bhubaneswar Golf Club here on Thursday. The Kolkata lad added a consecutive 82 in the second and final round for a two-day tally of 164 to finish five strokes ahead of overnight joint-leader Anmol Mahajan to emerge at the top in Cat A & B. Anmol scored a final round 87 to take the bridesmaid position while Yashwardhan Sarda was third at 170. Zahed Khan was fourth at 172 while Suryasikhar Bose was fifth at 178. Devansh Chadha took the honours in Category C with a total of 160 while Sandeep Yadav was second at 175. Manish Rajak ended up third with a total of 191.
Rajib Ali emerged as the champion in Category D with a total of 192 while Divij Sehgal was second at 208. Kaushal Bagrodia was third at 211. In the Girls Cat B, it was Vanika Badhsah who walked away with the title while the Girl C Cat honours went to Susnata Deb. Chitrangadha Singh won in Girls Cat D. Bibek’s who began on a disastrous note with back to back bogeys put a brake on his mistakes when he made three pars and a birdie (par-4 fifth) in the next four holes. With another bogey on the next hole, he took the turn at 2-over. On the back nine, Bibek just could not find his form as he made a single par and ended up 8-over for the last nine holes. “It was tough playing out there. Although I did not play my best golf, I was happy with the result because of the course conditions,” said Bibek after his victory. Top scores after 36 holes: Category A & B; 164 Bibek Sardar (Cat B) (82, 82); 169 Anmol Mahajan (Cat B) (82, 87); 170 Yashvardhan Sarda (Cat B) (86, 84); 172 Zahed Khan (Cat A) (91, 81); 178 Suryasikhar Bose (Cat B) (89, 89); 181 Gurshaan S Grewal (Cat B) (93, 88); 182 Rajvir Randhawa (Cat B) (92, 90); 185 Kshitij Sehgal (Cat B) (96, 89), Yun Woo Jung (Cat A) (90, 95), Category C; 160 Devansh Chadha (82, 78); 175 Sandeep Yadav (85, 90); 191 Manish Rajak (87, 104); 206 Ayush Prusty (107, 99), Category D; 192 Rajib Ali (101, 91); 203 Divij Sehgal (108, 95); 211 Kaushal Bagrodia (101, 110); 221 Aryaman Chakravarty (115, 106), Arav Shanghavi (108, 113), Girls Cat B; 200 Vanika Badshah (99, 101), Girls Cat C; 233 Susnata Deb (112, 121); 240 Marshneil Prasad (125, 115), Girls Cat D; 189 Chitrangadha Singh (100, 89), Category E (18 holes), 116 Rakshik Basu (57, 59).
India strong contender of Cricket World Cup
Bhubaneswar: India will be the strong contender of the ICC Cricket World Cup-2015 to be jointly hosted by New Zealand and Australia, said Champions Trophy winning Team India manager Ranjib Biswal at Biju Patnaik airport here on Thursday after his arrival.
In present juncture Team India failed in the tri-series tournament at West Indies but nothing to be dishearten as the present team composition is full of young players. Virat Kohli is a brilliant player he needs more time to grow up as captain, added Biswal.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the most successful captain of India, his ability of taking decision in crisis time is strength.
Biswal got rousing welcome here. He has achieved the unique feet of scoring hat-trick in his assignment as manager of the team India. He was lucky manager in the Asia Cup 2010, ICC World Cup 2011 and the recently concluded Champions Trophy-2013. Odisha Cricket Association treasure Satya Mohanty, cricketer Sritam Das and many OCA officials and cricketers were present in the airport.