RSP felicitates hockey icon Birendra lakra
Rourkela: GS Prasad, CEO, Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) felicitated Birendra lakra, the celebrity alumnus of SAIl Hockey Academy (SHA) at his office in Rourkela on Monday. It is worth mentioning here that, Birendra grabbed the limelight recently by scoring a goal in the finals of the hockey match at Incheon Asiad games that helped India win the gold after 16 years. In the league matches of the Asiad he had scored a goal against China, thereby helping India to qualify for the semi-final.
Speaking on the occasion, Prasad congratulated Birendra lakra on his sterling performance and said that he has made not only made Rourkela but the entire country proud by his achievements. Prasad also discussed the finer nuances of the tournament with Birendra and expressed hope that the star player will return with Olympics gold from the forthcoming Rio Olympics 2016.
Notably Birendra had earlier represented India in the london Olympics and Common Wealth games, Glasgow apart from several other important international events. It is interesting to note that the young Birendra was spotted by Peter Tirkey the coach of SAIl Hockey Academy of RSP in 2003 during an inter-School Hockey Tournament held at Biju Patnaik Hockey Stadium. Impressed with his talent Tirkey enrolled him in the day scholar scheme of SAIl Hockey Academy. In 2004, he was taken in the SAIl Hockey Academy as a cadet, where he was groomed till 2009. The expert guidance of the coaches like Tirkey,.
Harman lakra and Rajukant Saini, combined with the facilities and exposure provided by the SAIl Hockey Academy helped Birendra metamorphose into a sport star of international repute. Birendra who has always considered the SAIl Hockey Academy as his home, never misses to come to the Academy whenever he is in Rourkela and plays a few shots with the young cadets of the academy. He was a part of the SHA team during the exhibition match organised by RSP on 29th August 2014 to mark National Sports Day.
According to Tirkey, Birendra is the most versatile player in the Indian Hockey team now, since he is equally good in playing at any position be it in the centre, as a winger or in the defence, where he played in the Incheon Asiad. Besides RSP, Birendra was felicitated by many sports organisations and sports lovers of Rourkela on his arrival at Rourkela Railway station including Rourkela Sports Association and Panposh Sports Organisation.
Odisha’s 10 players in World Jr Chess
Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s ten players are participating in the World Junior (U-20) Boys and Girls Chess Championship, which kicks started at Hotel Hyatt, Pune in Maharashtra on Monday. The thirteen rounds tournament is organised by the Maharashtra Chess Association and Pune District Chess circle. The final will be held on 19th October.
Odisha participants in boys section are 60th seeded Sidhant Mohapatra (rating 2255), 69th seeded Utkal Ranjan Sahoo(rating 2213), 95th seeded Mohammad Ashraf(rating 2117), 108th seeded FM Rakesh Kumar Jena(rating 2074), 111th seeded Rakesh Kumar Nayak (rating 2057) and 113th seeded Ashirwad Swain(rating 2050). Odisha participants in girls section are 6th seeded WGM Padmini Rout (rating 2354),70th seeded Sunyasakta Satpathy(rating 1820),73rd seeded WFM Rutumbara Bidhar and 74th seeded WCM Saina Saloinika.
India’s hope in Boys section is GM Santosh Vidit Gujrathi of Maharastra and Odisha star WGM Padmini Rout in girls section.
It is a record that 139 players (76 Indian) from 47 countries are participating in open section among them 18 GMs and 20 IMs, led by Russian GM Vladimir Fedoseev (rating 2677). In girls section 78 participants (34 Indian) from 32 countries including five WGMs and 11 WIMs, led by Russian WGM Alexandra Goryachkina (rating 2430) are taking part.
The total prize fund for boys and girls section is INR 6,00,000/- The winner of the boys will receive the GM title where the winner of the girls will receive the WGM title. The silver and bronze medalists of both categories will receive the IM and WIM respectively.
FIDE title holders GMs,IMs, WGMs, WIMs, FMs , WFMs , Asian and World youth (gold, silver, bronze medalist ) ,boys above ElO 2000 ratings and girls above ElO 1800 are eligible to participate.