Bhubaneswar: The All India Annual LIC Sports Meet will be held in Bhubaneswar, November 9-12, senior divisional manager LP Dash announced here Monday at the LIC divisional office.
Four hundred and twenty four sportspersons will be seen participating in six disciplines – volleyball chess, table tennis, athletics, carrom and badminton – in the four-day event which includes 55 internationals and 155 national- level players. Approximately 20 players from the state will take part in the meet.
The Railway Indoor Stadium will host the badminton and table tennis events while the rest of the games will be played at the Kalinga Stadium. Among the international level players, WGM Kiran Manisha Mohanty, IM Anup Deshmukh, GM Sriram Jha in chess are expected to take part while in badminton, Jaison Xavier, NN Vinayak will be the star attractions. In table tennis Sougata Sarkar is also expected to participate in this competition.
“This is the first time Orissa is hosting this annual event and I believe it will be a grand success. I thank the state government for all their support in hosting this event and also hope that Orissa will perform well in the tournament,” LIC sports secretary Ramakant Dash told mediapersons. He also added that the event will provide a chance to budding youngsters to rub shoulders with top level players which would stand them in good stead in future.
