BHUBANESWAR 15-Aug-2012 293
Zonal Cricket Academy (West Zone) of the Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) was inaugurated at Veer Surendra Sai Stadium in Sambalpur today in the presence of DIG of Police (Northern Range) Sanjay Kumar, OCA president Ranjib Biswal and secretary Asirbad Behera.
The academy is equipped with turf, synthetic and cement pitches; a multi-gym for physical training, swimming facilities at a local pool and accommodation for trainees and support staff. As the first activity of the zonal academy, the month-long state under-19 coaching camp, featuring 52 players started, under the guidance of State U-19 coach Sovan Deb.
Briefing about the academy, OCA secretary Behera said that OCA had approved the proposal for setting up of zonal academies at four zones on the lines of the state academy, which has been functioning at Cuttack since 2008.
``OCA has requested all the district associations to immediately start work for setting up of zonal and district level academies at their headquarters. In order to prepare turf wickets in all the districts, OCA had earmarked Rs 5 crores for the purpose,`` he announced.
Behera also said the objective to set up the zonal academy was to develop and upgrade the standard of cricket in a systematic way across the state. ``The junior cricketers of OCA will get the maximum benefit from this academy to fine tune their talents and work out on grey areas. The academy will definitely help to improve cricket in the state from the grass roots level,`` he added.
Other resource persons, who will render their services in the said camp, include R Srikanth (Technical Director, Odisha State Cricket Academy), Prasanta Mohapatra (Coach), Jagat Ranjan Das (Trainer), Satyajit Dash (Physio), Gobinda Behera (Video analyst), Sangram Nayak (Gym instructor). Sambalpur District Athletic Association secretary Dulal Chandra Pradhan will be the chief-in-charge of the camp.
PLAYERS FOR U-19 COACHING CAMP:
Swagat Das, Kameswar Barik, Pratik Tripathy, Mohammad Hasim, Suvendu Samal, Agniv Sarkar, Girija Barik, Sanoj Mahananda, Sidhanta Sinha, Tarakanta Samal, Malaya Jena, Debapriya Patnaik, Prakash Panda, Suman Mohanty, Manish Rout, Raj Kiran Panda, Abhijit Ghana, Benu Charan Patra (all Cuttack); Abhinab Ghosh, Mahavir Prasad Mati, T Sunil Kumar, Bhabatosh Paramanik, Priyatosh Paramanik, Abinash Bhuyan (all Bhubaneswar); Waltor Tappo, Abhinab Mishra, Sanjay Das, Suraj Singh, Hari Shankar Pati (all Sundargarh); Amrit Khatua, Ranjit Singh, Ashok Barik, Christal Choudhury (all Rourkela); Subhrajit Das, Suryakant Jena, Jamala B Mahapatra (all Paradeep); Sagar Rout, Ankit Yadav, Raj Kishan Patel (all Jharsuguda); Noutam Bhanja, Taj Khan (both Balasore); Arya Debasis Bhatta, Rakesh Chhotray (both Khurda); Asit Das (Bhadrak); P Roshan Kumar (Nabarangpur); Subhrajyoti Mishra (Angul); Subhransu Senapati (Keonjhar); Asutosh Das (Jagatsinghpur); Prabir Swain (Kendrapara); Prayas Singh Thakur (Nuapada); Prasant Thakkar (Sambalpur); Sadhan Mishra (Puri).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PHOTO: Players workout at the gym of the Zonal Cricket Academy in Sambalpur on August 15, 2012.
