Utkal University in Bhubaneswar, which hosted the 5-day sports competition, secured the runner-up position in the category. In women’s category, KIIT University emerged as the team champion and Sambalpur University secured the runner-up position. Cash prizes of Rs 30,000, Rs 20,000 and Rs 10,000 were handed over to the first, second and third rank holders respectively.

Vice-Chancellor of Utkal University Prof. Sabita Acharya, Olympian and Odisha’s ace sprinter Dutee Chand, Registrar Dr. Kanhucharan Dhir and Director of Sports Council Dr. Bijaya Kumar Sundaray graced the award giving ceremony and distributed the prizes to the winners.

Speaking on the occasion as chief guest, Dutee said that the future is not shaped by reading only, but it is absolutely necessary to play along with reading. It is the sports that help in creating identity in life. Therefore, one should continue to practice for this by giving equal importance to reading and playing, she added.

Highlighting the State Government’s initiatives led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Dutee said that Odisha turned into the sporting capital of the country with state-of-art infrastructure and huge investments. Many players have also represented the State at the national and global level in several sports competitions and brought laurels for the State, she added.

The inter-university sports meet was organised by the Utkal University at Biju Patnaik Sports Complex and Kalinga Stadium with the financial support from Odisha State Higher Education Council, and Higher Education Department, Government of Odisha. Around 20 universities took part in 13 sports categories including 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1500 meters race, javelin throw, discus throw, shot put throw, hurdles and relay race etc. The inter-university competition was held at the University of Utah’s Biju Patnaik Sports Comples and Bhubaneswar’s Kaling Stadium, Bhubaneswar.

Dr. Kirti Ranjan Mallick conducted the closing programme and offered vote of thanks.

The Indian women’s hockey team found themselves under pressure early in the first quarter as Australia was awarded a penalty corner in the third minute. However, the Indian captain and goalkeeper did well to keep the ball out. A few minutes later Jane Claxton took a shot at goal but it went on to hit the goalpost, providing the Indian women’s hockey team a stroke of luck. The first quarter was plenty of action but ended without any goals scored.

The second quarter started with the Indian women’s team being awarded a penalty corner early on but it wasn’t converted. Australia won their second penalty corner in the 20th minute and it was yet another failure at conversion. Both the teams made plenty of circle entries but the first half ended goal-less.

The Indian women’s hockey team brought a whole new level of intensity to their game in the third quarter and were justly rewarded with a goal as they broke the deadlock courtesy of a stunning goal from Vandana Katariya (34’) who dived to put the ball into the back of the net on a penalty corner as India took the lead. Sangita Kumari, who was playing her 50th international match, won yet another penalty corner but it wasn’t converted. The Indians were well in control of the third quarter as it ended 1-0 in favour of the Indians.

Australia started the final quarter with a penalty corner but it was kept out. Navneet won India another penalty corner in the 52nd minute but it didn’t get past the Australian defence. The Indians continued to play a tight defence. The Australians were awarded a penalty corner with just over a minute left to try and take the game into a penalty shootout, but India successfully reviewed the decision to have it overturned.

Another penalty corner was awarded to Australia with just about half a minute left but it was a botched attempt as India went on to win their second game of the tournament, beating the Australians 1-0.

The Indian women’s hockey team will next take on the United States of America on February 18.

India were reduced to 33/3 in the first 45 minutes of day one, before Rohit made 131 off 196 balls, hitting 14 fours and three sixes, in his 11th Test century. He added 204 runs for the fourth wicket with Ravindra Jadeja, who made 112, to get India’s innings back on track.

Coming out to bat at number six, Sarfaraz played a sparkling knock of 62 off 66 balls, laced with nine fours and a six in his first Test innings, while sharing a stand of 77 with Jadeja for the fifth wicket.

Ashwin (37) and Jurel (46) added 77 runs for the eighth-wicket stand, followed by Bumrah making 26 at the end to take India to a strong total. With turn in the pitch, India will fancy their chances with the ball, though they will be concerned over how much bowling overs they will get out of Mohammed Siraj, who injured his right knee while batting.

For England, speedster Mark Wood took four wickets while other bowlers were amongst the scalps. The visitors’, though, would rue their dropped catches and not using the DRS diligently. They will begin their innings from 5/0, via the penalty runs India were fined due to Ashwin and Jadeja running on the danger area of the pitch.

Resuming from 331/7, India added only 62 runs in the morning session. James Anderson struck in the fourth over of the session after getting a faint edge of night watchman Kuldeep Yadav’s bat to wicketkeeper Ben Foakes. In the next over, Jadeja chipped a tame drive straight back to part-time off-spinner Joe Root, falling for 112.

With two new fresh batters, England went to Mark Wood’s thunderbolts, and Ashwin got off the mark with a beautiful punch through cover for four. He tried to bounce out Jurel, who arched back and ramped over slips for six.

Ashwin continued to hit lovely drives and cuts for boundaries, while Jurel looked solid and cleverly glanced and drove in the gap to get his runs, as making 400+ now looks a realistic target for India.

The only blip for India though was Ashwin running into the danger area while facing Rehan Ahmed in the 102nd over, which led to on-field umpire Joel Wilson fining India with a five-run penalty.

Post lunch, Ashwin continued to get boundaries via on-drive and glance, even as Jurel was dropped twice on 32 by Ollie Pope at mid-wicket and by Ben Stokes at leg-slip. England finally held on to a chance when Ashwin miscued a loft off Rehan Ahmed and was caught by a forward-diving mid-on.

Jurel delighted with his sixes over mid-wicket and mid-off, but his attempt to go for a late-cut against a flatter and wide delivery from Ahmed resulted in Foakes taking a brilliant low catch. Bumrah sparkled with his slogs over mid-on yielding a four and six, followed by beautiful lofted drive over cover for a boundary.

Siraj was hit on the top of his knee while going for a reverse-sweep off Tom Hartley, and changed the out decision to not-out via DRS. In the next over, he again got treatment from the physio due to the pain from the blow on the knee. Wood then trapped Bumrah lbw with a slower delivery to end India’s innings.

Brief Scores: India 445 in 130.5 overs (Rohit Sharma 131, Ravindra Jadeja 112; Mark Wood 4-114, Rehan Ahmed 2-85) against England

Bumrah, whose 9-wicket match haul forced adjudicators to give him the Man-of-the-Match award ahead of double-centurion Yashasvi Jaiswal two days ago, thus became the first Indian pacer to be ranked No. 1.

He moved up from fourth to the top in the latest rankings list, replacing teammate and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

Bumrah’s previous best ranking was No. 3.

At the peak of his powers, Bumrah’s last four Test matches have fetched him 27 wickets – 15 in the opening two matches of the ongoing home series against England and 12 in two preceding Tests in South Africa.

Bumrah will feel especially proud as he has gone one better than the legendary Kapil Dev.

India’s first World Cup-winning captain was No. 2, on the retrospective Test bowlers’ table, from December 1979 to February 1980.

Like Bumrah’s previous best, left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan had once occupied the No. 3 spot (October-November 2010).

Bumrah became the fastest India pacer to capture 150 Test wickets during his sensational spell of 6/45 in the first innings of the Vizag Test, which India won convincingly to level the series.

Having set the visiting team a target of 240, Odisha reduced Pondicherry to 175/8 before time ran out on the fourth and final day.

The draw gave Odisha 3 points, by virtue of first-innings lead, for a total of 12 points after five games. Odisha, currently in fifth place, will require full points from their last two games to have an outside chance of making the knockout stage.

After being all out for 201 in their second innings, Odisha pacers Rajesh Mohanty and Sunil Roul reduced Pondicherry to 0 for 2, sending back both openers without scoring.

A 55-run partnership followed, before Sunil Roul struck.

Odisha then faced strong resistance from Paras Ratnaparkhe (72) and Arun Karthik (58 not out).

Once their 89-run stand was broken by Harshit Rathod, Odisha made further inroads to push for victory.

But skipper Karthik stood firm till the end to deny Odisha victory.

Biplab Samantaray and Rajesh Mohanty bagged 2 wickets each, while Pradhan, Roul, Rathod and Govinda Poddar claimed one apiece.

Brief Scores

Odisha 322 & 201 (Govinda Poddar 46; Sagar Udeshi 4/45, Gaurav Yadav 3/48).

Pondicherry 284 & 175/8 (Paras Ratnaparkhe 72, Arun Karthik 58 not out; Biplab Samantaray 2/28, Rajesh Mohanty 2/41).

Result: Match drawn.

Points: Odisha 3, Pondicherry 1.

Standings: 12 points in 5 matches (5th), Pondicherry 13 pts in 5 matches (3rd).

Odisha’s next match: Vs Uttarakhand (from Feb 9 at Cuttack).

Gill’s place in the Indian team had come under threat, owing to a string of poor performances. However, the youngster performed at the right moment to reach the triple-digit score. He survived two close DRS calls in successive overs soon after his arrival into the middle to post his first fifty-plus score in 13 innings.

As per reports in some section of media, after Shubman Gill’s two-ball duck in the second innings of the Hyderabad Test, the team management had given him an ultimatum that Visakhapatnam would be his last chance to retain the No.3 spot in India’s Test team.

The report further stated that there was a conversation around Gill that he could have been sent to domestic cricket to work on his flaws with a week’s gap between the second and Third Test tin Rajkot.

Had Gill not fought his critics back with a valuable hundred in the second innings in Visakhapatnam, he could have flown to Mohali. Punjab are hosting Gujarat in the Ranji Trophy in Mohali starting from February 9.

Gill had amassed only 153 runs in his last nine innings with the highest score of 36 and his place was under immense scrutiny. His vulnerability against both spin and seam movement was fully exposed. However, the century will give him the world of confidence and time to correct those technical frailties.

Wishing the teams at the team line-up ahead of their match the chief minister said, “It gives me immense pride to say that Odisha has successfully hosted yet another marquee tournament at the Kalinga Stadium. Being able to host as many as 16 teams simultaneously, providing them with all the facilities, also signifies that Odisha has been making positive strides in football. We aim to further strengthen our partnership with AIFF and support the football development in India.”

“My best wishes to all the participating teams and everyone involved in making this tournament a huge success. I am sure all the teams, players, coaches and officials had a memorable experience in Odisha,” he added.

The atmosphere at the stadium during the match was electrifying with the fans cheering their teams in support.

The Kalinga Super Cup, which started in Bhubaneswar on January 9, has received encouraging response from players, coaches and fans. The state in association with AIFF & FAO, has undertaken various initiatives, including coaching and training programmes and creating quality infrastructure to promote football at the grassroots level.

“It is with immense gratitude and humility that I officially announce my retirement from International Hockey. The journey from 2011 to 2023 has been the highlight of my life, and I am deeply honoured to have represented India at the pinnacle of the sport. I extend my sincere thanks to Hockey India, Hockey Association of Odisha, and the Odisha Government for the invaluable opportunities they provided me. I would also like to thank the Government of India and Sports Authority of India for their unwavering support for the sport,” said Ekka in a social media post on Saturday.

The highly acclaimed player, who represented Indian women’s hockey team in 268 matches between 2011 and 2023, thanked her teammates, coaches, mentors and the support staff for their support.

Born in Sundargarh district, Ekka started playing state-level hockey matches at the age of 13. She played in the National Games at Ranchi in 2011 and got selected for the Junior Asia Cup team in the same year. Ekka was honoured with Arjun award in 2022.

It was evens stevens at the halfway mark of the third-place playoff clash, with Telugu Yoddhas enjoying a wafer-thin advantage of 14-13.

However, Odisha Juggernauts came back strongly and defended well to run out 32-24 winners.

Odisha Juggernauts’ Nikhil B and Dilip Khandavi were presented the Best Attacker and Best Kho awards, respectively.

Having won the inaugural edition of Ultimate Kho Kho league, Odisha Juggernauts lost to Gujarat Giants in the semifinal this time. So it was a happy ending for the Juggernauts who gave their fans something to cheer about.

Managing Director, OMC, Balwant Singh received the award from President Droupadi Murmu at a specially organised function at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.

With the encouragement and support of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, towards sports and by following his visionary statement “Sports for Youth, Youth for Future”, OMC has supported the Sports and Youth Services Department for the overall development of sports in the state. It has contributed significantly to Hockey India over the past five years and committed for the next ten years towards the immediate and long-term development of hockey in India. Another impactful initiative is the contribution of 3% of its net profit to the Sports and Youth Services Department for sports development in Odisha.

The corporation has also given employment to 12 sportspersons, supported budding athletes, facilitated infrastructure development across the state, and nurtured talent within local communities.

The ‘Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar’ is awarded by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports to corporate entities in the private and public sectors, Sports Control Boards, NGOs, and sports bodies at the state and national levels, recognising their visible role in sports promotion and development.