Bhubaneswar: Kendrapara Contendors scrapped past Puri Wavers 3-2 to lift the Odisha Tennis Premier League (OTPL) title for the second time in a row here at the Kalinga Stadium tennis complex Sunday.
It was Puri who drew the first blood as Suraj R Prabodh thrashed Jagmeet Singh 7-0 in the men’s singles to take the lead. However, their joy was shortlived as Alex Solanki hammered Asutosh Das 7-1 to make the scores level for Kendrapara.
Kendrapara took the lead through Avika Sagwal as she romped home to a 7-1 over Anaam Almas in the women’s singles encounter. Puri restored parity theough the pair of Suraj and Jagdish Tanwar as they overcame Nishant Goel and Jagmeet 7-5 in the men’s doubles to make it 2-2.
However, the Avika-Alex defeated the pair of Anaam and Jagdish 7-4 in the deciding women’s doubles encounter to take away the crown for the second consecutive year.
Odisha finish fourth
Odisha U-21 girl’s hockey team had to be satisfied with a fourth-place finish as they lost to Punjab 1-2 in the bronze medal play-off match of the ongoing Khelo India games here Sunday. Rojita Kujur was the only scorer for Odisha while Kajal scored both the goals for Punjab. The gold medal was taken by Haryana who beat Jharkhand 3-0 in the final.
Coaching course
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) will be conducting the AIFF-C License coaching course from February 16-28 at Cuttack, Football Association Odisha (FAO) announced Sunday. The minimum eligibility criterion for this course is AIFF D license. Candidates intending to appear for the has to register his name in AIFF Coaching Portal http://coaching.the-aiff.com/ and the last date of registration of candidates is January 22.