___________

The others are:

1. Dilip Tirkey (Men’s Hockey)
2. Prabodh Tirkey (Men’s Hockey)
3. Ignace Tirkey (Men’s Hockey)
4. Subhadra Pradhan (Women’s Hockey)
5. Jyoti Sunita Kullu (Women’s Hockey)
6. Shradhanjali Samantaray (Women’s Soccer)

A few points and recap of similar news:

1. TATA Steel has a football academy in Jamshedpur.
2. Hockey: SAIL has a hockey academy in Rourkela which serves the tribal belt around Sundergarh well.  The proposed Hockey academy in Bhubaneswar will be a good plus. I think KISS with its large tribal students could and would be one of the top recruiting ground for the proposed hockey academy.
3. Women’s footbal (soccer): As per the news item at http://www.dailypioneer.com/321111/FAO-glad-to-host-SAFF-Championship-in-December.html the Football Academy of Odisha (FAO) is setting up a woman football academy in Cuttack or Kendrapada.
4. Sports, Hockey: The above article also mentions that the State government is spending 20 crores for an Odisha Hockey Academy and astroturf hockey stadium in the Kalinga stadium complex. (See news item below.)
    
5. American Football: Bhubaneswar to be one of the eight teams in the Elite Football League that will start in 2012.
6. Indoor games: ECOR making an indoor stadium in Bhubaneswar.
7. Tennis Academy: Being established in Bhubaneswar.
8. Cricket Academy: Odisha Cricket academy has been established in Cuttack.
9. Cricket: ECOR has made a cricket stadium in Bhubaneswar and aims to make it of international standards.

Following are some excerpts from a Telegraph report. (Thanks to Deba Nayak for the pointer.)

“Having five players from Orissa in the national team, including the captain, is reason enough for us to celebrate. Our boys are not tired of the revelry yet,” said Amulya Nanda Bihari, the coach at the Rourkela sports hostel, today.

The boarders at Sundargarh and Cuttack, too, are celebrating the victory for the third consecutive day.

… Virtually one-third of the team being from Orissa, the state has emerged as a hockey powerhouse.

Hockey is less of a sport and more a way of life here, says Bihari, who has been a coach to Ignace Tirkey, William Tirkey and Prabodh Tirkey, the goal-keeper captain of the Indian team. He has witnessed the rise and fall and now the revival of the game since 1986, a year after the Rourkela hostel was set up.

Bihari, feted with the pretigious Biju Pattnaik Award for his contribution to hockey, pays a handsome tribute to the tribals’ natural flair for hockey. “Children in Sundargarh, Rourkela and Deogarh start playing at an early age — sometimes as early as five, and there never has been a dearth of talent. …

It is because tribals are so level-headed that makes them excel in defence, says Bihari.

Another coach, Milton Bilung endorses Bihari. “It’s an all-day and all-weather game for the tribals. Sometimes when tournaments are held, 200 teams participate and it becomes extremely difficult to manage.”

While Christian missionaries made the game popular, lure of government jobs is another reason for drawing the tribals. Almost all good players manage to get placement in Nalco, Railways and Orissa Police. Many lose interest in the game after grabbing the jobs, rued Bilung.

Currently, there are around 115 tribal players lodged in sports hostel such as those at Rourkela, Sundergarh and Cuttack.

Among these, Rajgangpur, Balishankara and Talsara in Sundergarh have produced the finest players so far.

Following are excerpts from a Newkerala report.

Seven players from Orissa will participate in the national senior women football training camp scheduled to be held at Neyvelli in Tamil Nadu from September 10.

The players selected for the training were– Prasanti Pradhan, Alochana Senapati, Gayatri Mallick, Gitanjali Khuntia, Sukumati Lagori, Sasmita Mallick and Pinki Bomphal Magar.

Orissa State Women’s Football Association General Secretary Sahadev Rout said while four of them had already played for the country, Prasanti (Goalkeeper), Gayatri (Half) and Lagori (Forward) were new faces.

Note that in the 33rd National Games Womens’ football championship, held earlier in this year, Orissa was the champion. But later in the year it lost in the semifinals of the 15th women’s national football championship. In recent years Orissa’s Sradhanjali Samantray has captained India’s national women’s football team.

Orissa also sends significant members to the Indian national women’s as well as men’s hockey teams. Orissa’s Jyoti Sunita Kullu (bio), who got an Arjuna award earlier this year, has captained the Indian national women’s hockey team. A recent team was captained by Binita Toppo of Orissa and had three other members from Orissa in Suniti Kispotta, Poonam Toppo and Binita Xess. The current women’s hockey probables 18 has the following six players from Orissa: Poonam Toppo, Nilima Kujur, Binita Toppo, Mukta Barla, Binita Xess and Subhadra Pradhan.

Dilip Tirkey has captained the Indian national men’s hockey team and Prabodh Tirkey is the current captain. The current team of eighteen consists of the following Orissa palyers: Dilip Tirkey, William Xalco, Prabodh Tirkey (captain) and Ignace Tirkey. Orissa Steelers, captained by Dilip Tirkey, won the 2007 Premier Hockey League championship in 2007.