Odisha females bag one silver and one bronze in Basketball National Championship

Bhubaneswar(09/10/2025): The Special Special Olympics Bharat Odisha Basketball female teams bagged one silver and one bronze in the National Championship held at KT Global School in Khordha from 5th to 9th of this month.

The teams performed well in the skill assessments.

In the competition stage the Odisha A Unified female team won its matches against Punjab 23–8 and Gujarat 26–6 while it lost to Karnataka.

Odisha A thereby won the Silver Medal.

The team consisted of Sarita Routray (Captain), Aridita Chakraborty, Sangita Naik, Adyasha Aditi Behera, Sunya Sakta Barik and Sasmita Mohapatra (Coach). In Group B, the Odisha female team played three competitive matches losing to Puducherry and Tamil Nadu but winning against Rajasthan 28–8 ensuring a bronze medal.

The team consisted of Rajashree Mohapatra (Captain), Sagarika, Aseema Aiswarya, Diptimayee Das, Subhasree Das and Arpita Mohapatra (Coach). It was the hardwork of both the coaches and the strong efforts of the players that resulted in this achievement even though it was their maiden appearance in the Basketball National Championship. Dillip Hial, District Social Security Officer, Khordha distributed medals and certificates to the winners as the Chief Guest.

The other guests present were Col (Retd) Dr.Kedarnath Dash and Rita Dash, Gokulananda Dash, Retired SBI DGM and Rani Dash who also gave away some prizes.

During the Closing Ceremony in the evening, Prashant Puhan, Jyoti Ranjan Nanda and his team members, members of the administration and security of KT Global School were felicitated by the Board Members of Special Olympics Bharat - Odisha.

The athletes did a jumbled march and Prashant Puhan did the honour of the flag down and declaring the games close. Prakash K Rath, Area Director, Special Olympics Bharat - Odisha received the games flag from the athletes and handed over to Rajasekhar Cheli, the National Board Member to be carried to Kolkata for the next National Championship of Football to be held there in November this year. The campers numbering around 300 then enjoyed an evening of song and dance performed by athletes of various states notable among them being the Sambalpuri dance to the beats of "Rasarkeli Go" performed by international athletes, Aridita Chakraborty and Baishnab Rajpalia.

The Championship was successfully conducted by Special Olympics Bharat - Odisha with the support of the Department of Sports of the state.