Following is from a report in ibnlive.com.

Orissa blanked three-time champions Bengal 5-0 to clinch their maiden title in the 19th edition of the Senior National women’s football championship at Pant Stadium here today. Orissa’s leading goal scorer Sasmita Mallick struck a brace (5th and 80th), while Jabamoni Soren (50th), Pinky Magar (60th) and Shradhanjali Samantaray (71st) fired in one each to complete the rout. With five minutes remaining, Orissa had an unassailable 5-0 lead when heavy showers stopped play yesterday. Orissa completed the formalities when the play resumed this morning. Incidentally, this was the biggest margin defeat suffered by any team in the championship’s final, surpassing Bengal’s 0-4 loss to Manipur in the second edition of the tournament in 1992-93. The reigning National Games champions, Orissa, thus erased the bitter memories in the final of the last edition of the tournament in Imphal where they lost to Manipur who won their record 14th title. "We had beaten Bengal 4-0 in the quarterfinal league…So we were confident of winning against the same team in the final. Had it been Manipur, the girls would have been a little apprehensive. It’s really a proud moment for us," an ecstatic Orissa coach Chitrasen Patra told PTI. Orissa routed former runners-up Kerala 13-0, blanked Haryana and Bengal by identical scorelines of 4-0 to top group B in their quarterfinal league.

The winning team received a rousing welcome when they returned to Odisha. Following is from Sambada.

An interesting fact to note is that several of the top Odisha players (including the captain and the top scorer), some of whom play for India, are from a particular district in Odisha; the Kendrapada district. This district has sent so many womens football players to play for Odisha and India that it is sometimes referred to as the women’s football cradle of India. Following are some old links about this.

  • http://www.odishatoday.com/sports/World_Cup_soccer_mania_grips_Kendrapara_120610-976987648465356423563734586.html Excerpts: … backward villages in Aul and Rajkanika region here. The villages shot to fame for contributing a number of emerging women footballers of both State and national repute in the past few years. At least 15 of them are now playing for the country in various age groups while the State women’s football team mostly includes players from this region. Five international players, Sashmita Mallick, Suprava Samal, Sangita Patra, Alochana Senapati and Gayatri Mallik are all from Aul-Rajkanika region of this district while Alochana and Sashmita have emerged as idols in the country.
  • http://expressbuzz.com/States/Orissa/two-kendrapara-girls-bend-it-like-beckham/147378.html
  • http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100916/jsp/orissa/story_12940399.jsp : A cluster of backward villages in Aul teshil region of Kendrapara district continues to dribble past all odds to reach the goal of churning out the best women footballers for the state.

    This success story began about eight years ago when the mini stadium of Aul block hosted a series of exhibition of women’s football matches. Since then, many women footballers from Aul have donned the national jersey.

    “It’s an amazing story. Although the girls are mostly from poor economic background, patronage of the Aul Athletics Association has resulted in many of them entering the soccer arena,” said Raj Kamal Mandal, a former coach of women’s football and district sports officer of Kendrapara.

    At present, nine girls from Aul are international players representing the country at various levels.

    “While three local girls are part of senior national team, the junior (under-19) squad includes two players from the Aul belt. Five footballers from this area represent the country in the sub-junior (under-16) team,” Mandal said.

    The state women’s football team is virtually packed with girls from Aul. Thirty-six girls have found their place in Orissa’s senior, junior and sub-junior women’s football teams. It is a matter of pride that they have overcome poverty and social stigma to achieve success.

    Most of these emerging stars are from far-flung and unknown villages such as Malapatana, Giribandha, Goudpatana, Mulasahi, Niala, Kanteipur, Telepatana, Dhanamandal and Adheikana.

    … “After a few exhibition matches in 2008, we invited the girls of Aul to take part in a training camp. The response was amazing. Over 40 girls eagerly waited for the training session to commence. Since then, they never looked back. At present, we have a reserve pool of around 50 girls who undergo training at the Aul stadium,” Sharma said.