Saina Salonika added another feather to Orissa`s cap by winning the girls title in the 24th National Under-7 Chess Championship, which concluded at Jamshedpur in Jharkhand today. Remaining unbeaten in the 11-round competition, the Bhubaneswar girl scored 10 points with nine wins and two draws.

C Lakshmi (9.5) of Tamil Nadu and Tanishka Kotia (8.5) of Haryana finished second and third respectively. Among other Orissa girls, Shreya Smurti Mohanty (6.5), Nikita Mallick (5), Sushree Mohapatra (4.5), Anuskha Mohanty (4.5) and Sushree Sunayana Mohanty (4) occupied the 16th, 31st, 43rd, 44th and 50th positions respectively in the final standings.

In open category, Orissa`s Pranb Kumar Patra missed the bronze medal narrowly by finishing fourth with 8.5 points. Tamil Nadu`s LN Ram Aravind emerged champion with 9.5 points, while West Bengal`s Ritam Nag (9) finished runners-up. Among other Orissa players Amitansu Priyadrasani (8), Amrutansu Bhatta (7), Vedanga Sarangi (6), Mohit Kamal Rath (6), Naisargik (6), Ankit Ray (5.5), Jay Anmol Rath (5.5), Baibhab Singh (5), Binit Kumar Sahoo (5), Saumani Rajdev (4.5)and Anshuman Bhatta (4.5) claimed the sixth, 25th, 40th, 50th, 52nd, 58th, 59th, 66th, 71st, 79th and 86th positions respectively in the final standings.
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PHOTO: Saina Salonika receives the u-7 National trophy from Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua in Jamshedpur on November 30, 2010.