Hats off to shining stars
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: August 04, 2014 -

Once again, Manipur stands proud and tall among the 28-plus odd States of India, thanks to the talented players who never fail to bring glory, fame and fortune to the troubled homeland.

Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 is a success story, that too, a grand one for the tiny State of Manipur.

Out of 14 players who competed in different disciplines, seven managed to engrave their names on the medals podium.

It was gold for weightlifter Khumukcham Sanjita Chanu, silver for fellow weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, silver for judoka Likmabam Sushila, bronze for judoka Thoudam Kalpana, silver for boxers Laishram Sarita and Laishram Devendro, and silver for hockey players Khadangbam Kothajit and Kangujum Chinglensana.

The success rate is 57 per cent. In another word, one in every two Manipuri players who participated in the Glasgow Commonwealth games won medals.

What an outstanding performance? Definitely, all of them deserve a standing ovation and of course, a grand reception.

Once again, our outstanding sports persons have demonstrated before the whole world that Manipur is not necessarily always about HIV/AIDS, misgovernance, human rights violation and protracted armed conflict.

There is no dearth of sports talents in Manipur which gifted the game of polo to the planet.

Manipur’s dominant position in Indian sports is reflected time and again every time the National Games is held.

It has been quite a long time since Manipur started surpassing all other States of India in the National Games’ medal tallies with the exception of Services Sports Control Board (SSCB).

Given this glorious history of Manipuri players, the NDA Government led by Narendra Modi made the right decision by choosing Manipur for establishment of a sports university.

The Narendra Modi Government has already made the first move when it expressed its keen desire to start construction work of the sports university from this year itself.

But there are still two more steps to be completed before construction of the sports university can be put into motion.

First is identification of an appropriate site, and second is land acquisition and transfer of the acquired land to the Ministry of Sports, Government of India.

As usual, it is the land acquisition part which demands the Government to be tactful and far-sighted otherwise the most adorable project of sports university can prove to be a centre of social turmoil.

Reports indicate that the State Government prefers to locate the proposed sports university in one of the four valley districts.

This is understandable in view of their easier accessibility from all parts of the State. But then, Senapati and Chandel too have all the potential of being home to a sports university.

Regardless of wherever the Government chooses to locate the university, our suggestion is, don’t encroach upon agricultural land.

Reclaim wastelands and marshy lands, and convert them into a sprawling campus of a vibrant sports university but spare agricultural land.

We hope, the Government would not overstep the New Land Use Policy or the Manipur Paddy Land Protection Bill which was passed by the State Assembly last month.

Manipur has talent, passion and support for almost all popular sports disciplines what we need or lack are hi-tech infrastructure, investment and of course sponsorship.

Anyway, our best compliments to all our shining and promising sports stars.