Cuttack: Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) announced Saturday the appointment of former cricketer Rashmi Ranjan Parida as the head coach of the state Ranji Trophy team in place of Debashis Mohanty. Earlier Rashmi had also served as the batting coach of the Ranji team and the U-23 side in the 2015-16 season.
The OCA also said that Kulamani Parida will replace Rashmi as a state selector in the OCA senior selection committee. The decision was unanimously taken by all the members of OCA working committee.
Doubles title for Abhishek
Abhishek Mohapatra of Odisha has clinched the U-18 boys’ doubles title of the Championship Series (CS7) tennis tournament at Jalandhar. Abhishek teaming up with Aditya V Roy Choudhury of West Bengal stunned top seed Punjab duo of Sonu Khan and Navneet Singh 6-2, 6-0 in the final played Friday.
However, it was a disappointing day for Odisha’s Ameek Kiran Batth as she lost both the U-18 doubles finals and U-18 singles semifinals. In singles, Ameek lost to Lakshanya 4-1, 1-4, 2-4 in the semifinals.
Arushi, Palak on top
Arushi Srichandan of Khurda and Palak Mohapatra of Cuttack emerged joint leader Saturday after the fifth round of the girls’ category of the All Odisha State U-9 Open and Girls’ Chess Championships at Dhenkanal, Saturday. Both Arushi and Palak are on five points each while five others are sharing the second spot with four points apiece.
In the open category, Priansh Das, Sriansh Das (both from Jajpur) and Aryan Mohapatra of Khurda share the top spot with 4.5 points each. Eight others are sharing the second spot with four points each.
Team leave
Odisha powerlifters departed from Bhubaneswar, Saturday, to take part in the National Senior Powerlifting Championship at Sattenapale, Andhra Pradesh, starting August 24.
