Odisha girls created history in kho-kho by winning silver medal for the first time in the Sub-junior National Championship, the 29th edition of which was held at Rudrapur in Uttarakhand from December 15 to 19, 2018.

According to Odisha Kho Kho Association secretary Pradyumna Mishra, Maharashtra emerged champions, defeating Odisha in the hard-fought final by 7-6 points. Archana Majhi, Ranjita Barik, Subhashree Singh and Kadambini Majhi put up impressive performance for Odisha in the title clash.

Archana secured three points, running continuously for 2.30 minutes. Ranjita and Subhashree gathered two points each with runs of one minute and 1.20 minutes respectively. Earlier in the semifinals, Odisha caused a major upset by eliminating reigning champions Karnataka 10-8.

Ananya Pradhan, Sibani Gamango and Jayasmita Tarai displayed fine performance against Karnataka. The 12-member Odisha girls’ team was accompanied by coach Tapan Kumar Das and manager Rosalin Parida.

Odisha reached semifinals after a gap of 28 years, beating Gujarat 12-5 in quarterfinals and Kerala 9-5 in pre-quarterfinals. Earlier in their three league matches, Odisha defeated Uttarakhand 12-4, Manipur 19-0 and Delhi 10-5.

ODISHA GIRLS TEAM: Ananya Pradhan, Shibani Gamango, Subhashree Singh, Ranjita Barik, Kadambini Majhi, Jayasmita Tarai, Priyanka Priyadarshini Nayak, Archana Majhi, Karisma Swain, Rekhamani Nayak, Archana Pradhan, V Bijaya Sethi. Coach: Tapan Kumar Das, Manager: Rosalin Parida.
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PHOTO: Players of Odisha girls team at the presentation ceremony in Rudrapur on December 19, 2018.