3 Odia eves in National women hockey team
Bhubaneswar: Hockey India on Thursday announced a 18-member senior women hockey team for FIH Champions Challenge 1 scheduled to be played at Glasgow (Scotland) from April 27 to May 4, in which three Odisha players Deep Grace Ekka, Sunita lakra and Namita Tappo conformed their berth. Hockey India Selectors B P Govinda, Mamta Kharab Dahiya and Surinder Kaur along with Roelant Oltmans, Director High Performance, Neil Hawgood, Chief Coach Women Team and Scientific Advisor Matthew Tredrea selected the list of 18 players and 7 standbys on the basis of selection trials conducted at NSNIS Patiala on March 27. The 18 member squad will be captained by midfielder Ritu Rani with midfielder Chanchan Devi supporting as vice-captain. India is placed in Pool A with Korea, Belgium and the host Scotland while USA, South Africa, Spain and Ireland are placed in Pool B. India is slotted against Korea in its opening match scheduled for April 27.
Odisha enters National Jr (Div-A) Hockey semis
Bhubaneswar: Tough fights and close wins surround Day-6 of the 4th Hockey India Junior Men National Championship 2014 (Division A) played in Chennai on Thursday, where Hockey Odisha and Sports Authority of India emerged victorious and joined Haryana and Punjab in the semi-finals to be played this Saturday. While Haryana will take on Punjab on Saturday in the first semi-final match, Sports Authority of India will clash against Odisha in the second semi-final match. In Pool B match on Thursday, Hockey Odisha continues its winning form and in its 3rd match of Pool B, the team beats Mumbai Hockey Association ltd convincing to enter the next stage of the tournament. The team beat the opponents with a 4-0 margin and not giving them a single chance to open their scorecard. All 4 goals by Odisha were converted through the penalty corner opportunities that the team got. The team got its first penalty corner in the very 1st minute which was converted from the stick of Sanjit Toppo. In the 31st minute the team got its second penalty corner and this time it was Anand lakra who did the scoring. Going into the second half Hockey Odisha was leading 2 goals to 0. Struggling hard but failing to score even a single goal in the second half as well, Mumbai Hockey Association ltd continued to disappoint allowing Joseph Toppo to score a penalty corner in 61st minute. Finishing the game and giving Hockey Odisha an interesting win Anuranjan Tirkey stroked in a goal in 68th minute giving them a convincing win.
Results: Hockey Odisha 4 Sanjit Toppo (1 minute), Anand lakra (31 minute), Joseph Toppo (61 minute), Anuranjan Tirkey (68 minute) bt Mumbai 0 .
Nayagarh, M’giri, J’pur win in Women cricket
Bhubaneswar: The five wickets haul by Anciell Ekka of Sundargarh gone to vain while the team suffered defeat from Malkangiri by 51 runs in the Inter-District Women’s Cricket Tournament at Ravenshaw Ground-II in Cuttack on Thursday. Kedrapada got walkover as Sonepur team could not report in time. In other matches, Nayagarh and Jagatsinghpur defeated Mayurbhanj and Gajapati by four and 201 runs respectively. The bowlers dominated the day, Suman Mohakud (Mayurbhanj), Juspin lakra (Nayagarh), Debasmita Das and Babita Behera (both of Jagatsighpur) scalped four wickets each in their respective matches.
Brief Score: At Ravenshaw Ground-I:Nayagarh 99/10 in 35 overs (Sakra Besra 22; Suman Mohakud 4/17) beat Mayurbhanj 95/10 in 32.2 overs (Juspin lakara 4/18, Sweeti Behura 3/21) by 4 runs. At Ravenshaw Ground-II: Malkangiri 109/10 in 28.3 overs (Anciell Ekka 5/16, Prity Yadav 3/24) beat Sundargarh 58/10 in 21.4 overs (laxmi Muduli 3/9, Malati Majumdal 3/6, Susma Bala 2/22) by 51 runs. At Nimpur Ground: Jagatsinghpur 232/10 in 34.4 overs (liza Das 65, Sabita Nayak 33; Anita Karjee 3/34, Hiramati Mandal 3/49, Santi Rai Patra 2/58) beat Gajapati 31/10 in 9.3 overs (Debasmita Das 4/9, Babita Behera 4/14) by 201 runs.