Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Jan 9: Ansu Kumar Bhuyan and Avilash Mishra won their respective semifinals to enter the final in the men’s section of the Utkal Orissa Open Tennis tournament here Saturday.
In the first semifinal, top seed Ansu got the better of fourth seed Asutosh Das 7-6 (7-5), 6-1. In the second semifinal, third seed Avilash shocked second seed Santosh Mallick 6-1, 6-1.
Orissa Blues win
Orissa Blues defeated BSNL by two wickets in a close match of the EPL cricket tournament at the IMMT Ground here Saturday.
Opting to bat first, BSNL scored 181 in their stipulated 40 overs for the loss of eight wickets with Bikash Pati (61 n o) emerging the highest scorer while others failed to contribute to the cause. Abhilash Semwal (4/21) bowled well for Orissa Blues.
In reply, Orissa Blues scrambled home on the last ball of the game with two wickets in hand. Rupak Jena (50) and PR Sinha (40) led the run chase well while man of the match Rakesh Gocchayat (32 no) played a little cameo to finish the game off in style. Sourav Kaneja (4/37) was the pick of the bowlers for BSNL.
Teams leave
Both men’s and women’s teams of Orissa departed from the city Friday to take part in the 66th National Senior Basketball Championships at Maysore, January 10-14.
The squads: (Women) Rajashree Swain, Sangita Rout, Padmini Nayak, Pramodini Nayak, N Swagatika, Bishnupriya Mallick, Sibani Nayak, Jayashree Baske, Subhanik Sahu, Punam Kiro, Salu Arya and Urbashee Mallick
(Men): Ashok Kumar Nayak, Sashikant Mohanty, Jaganjit Barik, Amit Mishra, P Manoj Kumar, K Sraban Kumar, Sahid Khan, P Mukesh Kumar, Anurag Choudhury, Suman Mohanty and Rudrakant Sahoo.
