Source: The Sangai Express
New Delhi, August 17:
Manipur Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh yesterday announced Rs 1 lakh cash award to the Indian football team that thrashed defending champion Tajikistan 4-1 in the final of AFC Challenge Cup football tournament held at Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi on August 13 and with the win, India got a direct entry to the 2011 AFC Asian Cup in Doha after 24 years.
Manipur Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Nongthombam Biren made the announcement here in Delhi this evening.
Expressing happiness over the splendid performance of the Indian team in the match where eight players from the North East region including six players from Manipur took part, Nongthombam Biren, who was among the 20,000 great audience of the match, said that the sporting skills of players from the North Eastern region showed the light and created the new hope of football players of the country in the international sporting arena.
N Biren, who was once a football player of Border Security Force Jalandhar and among the players of the BSF team in the final match against JCT Mills Phagwara of Durand Cup held in New Delhi in 1981 which the BSF beat JCT Mills by 1-0, said that the monopoly in Indian football which once established ended now after the foreign football had been appointed.
Consequently, the Indian football had many talented players picked up from different parts of the country.
Earlier, it was a game for a few States, he added.
The Minister stated that Manipur football players had earlier never dreamt for their entry in Indian scene.
Now, Manipur football players had occupied a prominent place in Indian football.
He praised the performance of Manipur players namely Gourmangi Singh, Surkumar Singh, P Rennedy Singh, Bungo Singh, Sushil Kumar Singh and Gobind Singh besides the remarkable skills of Indian captainBaichung Bhutia and Sunil Chhetri who earned hat trick in the match.