Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Sept 16: Orissa Powerlifting Association (OPA) and Utkal Karate School jointly felicitated the Orissa powerlifting team Wednesday, upon their arrival here after their splendid show at the recently-concluded National Senior Powerlifting Championship at Kashipur, Uttarakhand.
Bhubaneswar Mayor Anant Narayan Jena, Titlagarh MLA Tukuni Sahu and OPA secretary Chitta Ranjan Swain were present during the felicitation ceremony.
Orissa women’s team emerged champions in the competition for the first time. Devi Singh bagged the ‘Strongest Woman of the meet’ award. In the women’s unequipped segment, Devi Swain and Laxmi Mani Singh clinched gold medals, while Priyadarshini Bisoi bagged silver medals.
In the men’s category, Sanjay Nayak won gold, Pradeep Kumar Patra bagged silver while K Dora bagged a bronze.
Lokmohan’s feat
Lokmohan Routray of Orissa was adjudged the ‘best catcher’ in the Presidential Cup Asian Baseball Championships at Tehran, September 9-13. Lokmohan was the only Orissa player in the 18-member Indian team. He played three matches in the tournament as a catcher.
New award
Orissa Cricket Asociation (OCA) will confer the first ‘Harmohan Praharaj Award’ on senior umpire Kalyan Ray Choudhury at the OCA conference hall in Cuttack, September 23. Kalyan has so far conducted eight BCCI matches and 1,500 OCA matches. “The award will be given every year in memory of OCA panel umpire and former Orissa Ranji captain Harmohan Praharaj,” OCA stated through a press release Wednesday.
Dismal day
It turned out to be a dismal day for Orissa players at office as three of them lost their pre-quarterfinal matches in the U-14 boys’ singles event of the Falcon Super Series badminton tournament at the Kalinga Stadium here Wednesday.
Ashis Parida was beaten by Arya Rajath Raj of Karnataka 6-3, 3-6, 3-6, while eighth seed Pratyush Mohanty was defeated by Hasith S Gummuluru of Andhra Pradesh 6-4, 3-6, 2-6. In another match, Kabir Hans lost his battle against third-seeded Aman Patel of Gujarat 3-6, 5-7.