Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, June 23: Padmini Rout, Kiran Manisha Mohanty, Rakesh Nayak won their respective matches as Orissa had a mixed day in the opening round of Commonwealth Chess Championship at New Delhi, Tuesday.
International Master (IM) Padmini defeated Akhil ASJ in the first round, WGM Kiran Manisha easily overcame A Harshini, while Rakesh checkmated Dushyant Sharma. However, Soumya Swaminathan played out a tame draw against Saptorshi Gupta.
But it was tough day for the men’s as Rajesh Nayak, Sushobhit Das both lost their respective matches in the open segment. Rajesh was defeated by Kumar Gaurav while Sushobhit surrendered to Niranjan Navulgand.
In the under-14 open segment, Ansuman Samal defeated Neel Thomas in the first round while in the girls’ segment, Anwesha Mishra beat P Laasya Priya.
Back with three gold medals from Singapore recently, Saina Salonika opened her account in the first round by defeating Arushi Kotwal in the under-12 girls’ category. In another match, Shreya Shruti Mohanty overcame Bristi Mukherjee. However Miracle Panda lost to Kasmira Vather in her first game of the under-10 girls’ segement.
Ranjit selected
In a major achievement, archer Ranjit Nayak, a student of Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), has been identified as a potential medal winner for the 2016 Rio Games and included in the Target Olympic Podium (TOP) Scheme by the central ministry of youth affairs and sports. Ranjit was selected along with five others in the ‘Senior Men’ category.
The archers will be provided with funds, competition exposure and training, under the scheme for preparation at the quadrennial mega event.
The archer, who hails from Mayurbhanj was selected because of his stellar performances at national and international levels in the recent past. He represented India in the Senior Recurve Round for World Cup Stage 1 in Shanghai, World Cup Stage-II Archery Championships in Turkey, IInd Asian Grand Prix Archery Championships in Taipei and World Youth Archery Championships in Wuxi, China where he won a silver medal.
