ORFA felicitates State Rugby teams
Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Rugby Football Association (ORFA) on Thursday felicitated State U-19 boys and girls team at KIIT Stadium here . Defending champion Odisha girls team bagged the runner up trophy in the National U-19 Rugby Championship held at JN Stadium in Chennai from June 10 to 11. However, Boys team was finished third in the national meet. Sumitra Nayak, lija Sardar, Rajani Sabar, Basanti Pangi, Jemamani Naik and Soni Madangi are the six junior player of the State got selected for the national camp to be held at Mumbai from June 19. The national team will be selected from the camp for the World School Games Rugby 7s schedule to be held at Paris in France from July 8 to 9. ORFA secretary Upendra Kumar Mohanty wished good luck to the players.
Five Odisha girls in National hockey Core Probables
Bhubaneswar: Five Odisha girls have been selected in the 33-Member Core Probables for the Junior Women’s National Camp. The Core Probables were picked after an intense selection trials conducted under the watchful eyes of David John, Director High Performance Hockey India. Jiwan Kishori Toppo, Primanjali Toppo (mid-fielder), Janhabi Pradhan (forward) (all Hockey Gangpur-Odisha), Asmita Barla (defender) and Mariana Kujur (mid-fielder)(both Hockey Odisha) are the six players from Odisha. The Core Group will be trained by Baljeet Singh Saini, Coach for the Indian Junior Women’s squad. Saini was a former national player who has represented India at two successive Olympic Games – 1996 in Atlanta and 2000 in Sydney. On May 24, the camp consisting of 38 players who were picked basis their performance at the recent Hockey India National Hockey Championships (Women), reported at SAI, Bengaluru where the selection trials were held in the first week of June. The Core Group has been selected on the basis of speed, agility, skill and basic understanding of the game. This Core Group will be provided with a support staff including Scientific Advisor, Video Analyst, Physiotherapist and a Masseuse just like we have for our Senior-team programs. We have long-term goals for this group and with our vision set on the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games and the 2020 Junior World Cup, these 33 core probables will go through a development process that will prepare them for the challenges at the international level.
Semifinalists spotted in Belpahar Football
Bhubaneswar: Samleswari Club of Chingriguda and Jai Bajarang Club of Thungiadera will meet Swagatika Club of Kadupada and GWA Talibahal respectively in the semifinals match of the Belpahar Football league at Belpahar. In the last quarterfinal match on Thursday, GWA Talibahal edged out Jai Jawan Club of Jharsuguda by 2-1 goals through penalty kicks. The match ended in 1-1 goal draw in the stipulated time. Jharsuguda got the lead in the 39th minute through a goal by Prasant Oram . But after the change of sides, Sudam Oram of the Talibahal scored the equalizer in the 60th minute. Kartik Dash, Sanyasi Munda, Mahendra Bagarti and Ramani Majhi were conducted the match as referees. Chingriguda will meet Kadupada in the semifinal match on Friday.
Hockey Odisha win in National Senior Hockey
Bhubaneswar: Hockey Odisha started their campaign with a winning note by defeating Hockey Patiala by 4-2 goals in the Group-C league match of the 7th Hockey India Senior Men National Hockey Championship 2017 ‘A’ Division at lucknow in Utter Pradesh on Thursday. Tekei Kujur opened the account for Odisha in the ninth minute through a penalty corner. Sanjib Ekka, Suraj Minz and Niten Mukesh Tigga joined the party by scoring a goal each in the 14th,38th and 52nd minutes respectively. In the second league match Hockey Odisha will meet Madhya Pradesh on June 17.