Rajesh wins State Senior Chess title
Bhubaneswar: Overnight solo leader Rajesh Nayak lost the final round from the top seeded Rakesh Kumar Nayak and remained unchanged with 7.5 points by the end of ninth round and emerged champion in the Odisha State Fide rating Senior Chess Championship at Saraswati Sisu Bidya Mandir here on Saturday. Third seeded Rajesh of Puri registered seven win , a draw and a defeat in the nine round meet. Baivab Mishra of Puri, Rakesh Kumar Nayak and Biswajit Nayak both of Khurdha gathered 7.5 points and finished second, third and fourth respectively. The champion Rajesh and runner up Baivab were received the trophy along with cash award of Rs 5,000 and Rs 3,000 respectively. The tournament featured total cash award of Rs 30,000. Department of Higher Education Additional Chief Secretary cum Principal Secretary GV Venugopala Sarma gave away the prizes as the chief guest of the closing ceremony. Among others Saraswati Sisu Bidya Mandir Pradhan Acharya Ranjan Parida and Khordha District Chess Association Subhasis Patnaik were present.
Gangpur draw, Hockey Odisha suffer defeat
Bhubaneswar: Hockey Gangpur Odisha drew with Hockey Punjab by 2-2 goal in the group-B league matches in the 7th Hockey India Senior Men National Hockey Championship 2017 ‘A’ Division at lucknow in Utter Pradesh on Saturday. Punjab got the lead in the second minute through a field goal. M Dhananjay of Gangpur team scored the equalizer in the fourth minute by a penalty corner. After the lemon breaks, Alsem lakra of Gangpur scored a field goal in the 48th minute. However, Punjab bounced back in the 54th minute and leveled the score. In the first league matches, Gangpur and Hockey Odisha gathered three points each by registering win. In the group-C league match, The Mumbai Hockey Association ltd defeated Hockey Odisha by 3-0 goals. Hockey Odisha will face Punjab and Sind Bank on Sunday, while Hockey Gangpur Odisha will face Hockey Bhopal on Monday.