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Softball tourney gets under way

Staff Reporter

Some 300 participants taking part

— Photo: Lingaraj Panda

HOME RUN! A match in progress at the 11th Junior Softball State Championship in Berhampur on Saturday.

BERHAMPUR: The eleventh State-level junior softball tournament was inaugurated at the Khallikote Autonomous College stadium of the city on Saturday.

More than 300 participants from 20 districts of the state are taking part in this tournament organised by the Ganjam Softball Association (GSA). According to the secretary of the Orissa Softball Association, Debendra Sahu a state-level tournament of this game is being organised for the first time in south Orissa to promote the game in this region.

Rules

Softball, is similar to baseball, but is played with special ball called softball. Most of the rules of this game are similar to those of baseball. Yet some aspects of softball's rules differ from baseball. The pitching in softball is always underhand. A softball is larger than the regular baseball. It can be made of kapok (a silky fibre), a mixture of cork and rubber, a polyurethane mixture, or other approved materials.

Softball is now played around the world, and in the United States it has become one of the major women's sports. Women's softball was included as a medal sport at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

George Hancock, a reporter for the Chicago Board of Trade, invented this game in1887 as an indoor sport. But the name 'softball' was not developed until 1926. Walter Hakanson of the Denver conceived of it while attending a meeting in Greeley, Colorado, to form the Colorado Amateur Softball Association. This game is now being promoted at school and college level in the country.

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