BHUBANESWAR 08-Jan-2013 256
Maharashtra bagged a double by winning both the men’s and women’s doubles titles in the National Croquet Championship, which concluded here at Kalinga Stadium today. Chhatrabhuj Solanke and Saikh Asad became men’s champions while Nazim and Awadhesh Kumar of Delhi finished runners-up. In women’s category, Kiran Bhendekar and Neet Banate defeated their Maharastra statemates Asha Yadav and Dikhya Yadav to clinch the title.
A 10-member squad from host Odisha, featuring eight men two women, reached quarterfinals before losing to Maharastra. Odisha players included Rajasmita Khuntia, Debalina Mandal (both women); Sushil Kumar Parida, Prabhu Sankar Mohapatra, Smruti Ranjan Pradhan, Prasad Kumar Sethi, Satyabrata Samantaray, Pradeep Kumar Mallick, Dibya Ranjan Dalai, Swadhin Chand (all men).
The four-day National championship coincided with a National coaching camp. Altogether 80 men and 35 women from 11 states joined the combined programme, which supervised by World Croquet Federation coaches David Underhill from Swizerland and Klim Seabright from England. Croquet Federation of India (CFI) executive president Manoranjan Mishra expressed hope that the sport would gain nation-wide popularity in a couple of years.
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PHOTO: Prize winners and officials at the National Croquet Championship in Bhubaneswar on January 8, 2013.
