Manipur clinched 7th position in Khelo India Youth games 2023

James Khangenbam *

M Martina win a gold medal in women's +81 kg weightlifting competition at Khello India Youth Games 2023 on February 10 2023 : Pix - TSE

Manipur finished 7th position at the just concluded Khello India Youth Games 2023. The game is participated by 36 states and union territories. Around 5000 atheletes participated in the tournament. Manipur scored 13 golds, 9 silver and 12 bronze to secure the seventh position. Madhya Pradesh who has the largest contingent scored the highest medals and secured the first position in the medal tally.

During the tournament, seven national youth records were created by a Manipuri weightlifter. M. Martina Devi who won the Girls 81kg+ category with a total lift of 199kg created national records in Snatch (88kg), as well as in Clean and Jerk (111kg).

In fact, Martina broke a total of seven national youth records enroute to her gold medal. Manipur clinched the title by defeating West Bengal with a score of 1-0 in the girls’ football final.

Athletes from Manipur dominated the Thang-ta, a traditional Manipuri martial art form, competitions at Mandla’s District Sports Complex, clinching five golds. Assam, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh also won a gold each in the sports discipline.

Earlier the sports ministry had opened Khelo India State Centre of Excellence (KISCE) at Khuman Lampak Sports Complex, Imphal with the aim to identify and provide world-class training to athletes in the state in their specialised sports.

The Khuman Lampak Sports Complex in Imphal was chosen as the Khelo India State Centre of Excellence (KISCE) and was virtually inaugurated by Kiren Rijiju, the union minister of sports and youth affairs, in 2020.

Three disciplines — archery, hockey and weightlifting — were selected to be part of the KISCE initially under which one state could have one discipline and weightlifting was declared as the state discipline of Manipur.

Manipur atheletes at Khello India Youth Games 2023 on February 09 2023 : Pix - TSE

Khelo India, the national programme for development of sports also established 16 sports centres across 16 districts in Manipur last year. The initiative was part of the Centre’s vision to open 1,000 new Khelo India Centres (KIC) in all states and Union territories, with at least one KIC in each district of the country.

The sports ministry in partnership with the state governments is providing grassroots-level sports infrastructure to young sporting talent in different parts of the country under the Khelo India National development program for sports.

Manipur is considered as the power house of sports and the Central government has taken up steps to establish a sports university in the state which would be first of its kind in the country.

The state which is geographically smaller compared to other states of the country with a population of around 30 lakhs has produced large number of sporting talents so far. The dedication, efforts and passion the people of Manipur have towards sports is often appreciated by many. Many state athletes are inducted in the central service and they are pursuing their career in bigger cities.

On a brighter note, at the grassroot level, culturally almost all local clubs in the State celebrates the holi festival (Yaoshang in Manipur) with 5 days of fun, literary and sporting events annually.

Mostly the youths and elderly organise the sport events encouraging the children to participate. And the tournaments are concluded with award ceremonies. Often children participate the sporting event with much love, celebration and cherish memory besides winning accolades in winning prizes.