Kongbrailatpam Krishnachandra Sharma : "Churachand Maharaj was the true pioneer of Manipur sports"

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Kongbrailatpam Krishnachandra Sharma :: Pix - Hueiyen Lanpao

Volleyball was a very popular game in Manipur from the early period. Maharaj Bodhachandra patronized it very much, as he himself played the games along with others. Kongbrailatpam Krishnachandra Sharma was a good volleyball player of those times. 'ON THE GOLDEN FOOTPRINTS' reproduces here his profile from Ratneshwori Goswami's Akao Parei Chankhrabasing published in the Huieyen Lanpao (Manipuri).

Krishnachandra Sharma, the fourth child of Kongbrailatpam Nabadwip Sharma and Pemcha Devi was born in July 1931 at Uripok Sorbon Thingel, Imphal. Besides taking keen interests in various games like football and athletics, he was a good Volleyball player during the late 1940s. He was studying in class-III during the war period in 1942 at Thangmeiband ME School.

After sheltering at Lamdeng area till the post-war calmness returned, Krishnachandra resumed his studies at Tera ME School in class-IV. He studied from class-V to class-X at Churachand School and passed matriculation in 1952, after which he joined DM College for IA.

At first, he used to play volleyball at a small lawn near Lalambung Pung during childhood, and later at the Lalambung School ground. Some of his contemporary players, as he could remember, were Takhellambam Ibopishak, Jugin and Ingo. He started playing actively during 1948 when he was reading in Churachand School.

By that time, he also became a volleyball player of Imphal Sporting club, which often contested with the Heirangoithong Volleyball Team in final matches. Krishnachandra recalled that there was a volleyball ground in front of Uripok Cheirap Court, where senior players namely Eigya Kashi Sharma from Uripok, Sanakhya Hujursana, Babuton Sharma, Ibomcha from Sayang, Jugin from Tera Keithel, Takhellambam Babudhon etc. practiced regularly. By that time, Maharaja Bodhachandra was engaged in organizing the Volleyball Team, named "Mayon Team".

In 1953/54, he participated in the State League Tournament as player of DM College team, which won Team Champion. From 15 December 1956 to 8 January 1957, he participated in an Athletics training camp at Madras YMC College. Returned from the training, he took part in the State Games and earned second position in High jump event.

He was also the member of selection committee of Assam. He along with A Z Khan of Assam Volleyball Association was instrumental in organizing the Volleyball Team for the All Assam Inter-district tournament. He also led the Assam Team to other parts of the country in a number of tournaments, including one in Bombay in 1962.

Although Manipuris felt the inconvenience in volleyball playing as it involved tall players of around six feet height, there had not been dearth of Volleyball players in the state. Nowadays, volleyball as a sports event seems to have declined in Manipur. Once, every locality has volleyball ground where the local players used to play regularly.

In an interview with Ratneshori Goswami, veteran player Krishnachandra said that the sporting spirit of our forefathers was an excellent one. According to him, Churachand Maharaj was one of the pioneers of sports movement in Manipur. The king used to organize healthy and sportive persons in the palace and they were made to play in Maharaj Team.

Maharaja led the players to play at various places, not only in Manipur, but also at different places of Assam and Calcutta. Krishnachandra Sharma further said that initiatives for sports development were already taken up during the king's reign in Manipur. From the early period, players were encouraged and groomed in Football, Hockey, Cricket, Athletics, Sagol Kangjei, Khong Kangjei etc. In the pre-war period, Churachand Maharaj brought the Manipur players to Calcutta to play Cricket, Krishnachandra narrated quoting his elders.

Not only king Churachand, Bodhachandra Maharaj also took keen interest in sports. Volleyball was the game which Bodhachandra endeared most. Krishnachandra could witness the king playing volleyball tying a white clothe on his arm. According to Krishnachandra, some of the elders who worked for development of sports in Manipur were Oja benudhar, Oja Rebati, Dhiren, Biramangol, Khomdram Dhanachandra etc.

The land belonging to All Manipur Sports Association at Mapal Kangjeibung was allotted during the Chief Commissioner GM Raina's tenure. On the request of Oja Benudhar, Khomdram Dhanachandra, Nongmaithem Rebati, Sougaijam Biren, Ayekpam Biramangol, Helim Choudhury, etc., the required premium amount was also exempted by the then government. K. Krishnachandra Sharma was an ardent follower of these elders in the field of sports.

As a teacher of Lalambung LP School, he was involved in the development of the school at the organizational level. He also received the Basic training in education. By 1960, he became the Assistant Inspector of Education and posted at Sadar Hills for 12 years. During his service, he relentlessly worked for sports development by leading the school teams and state teams to outside states. He got retirement from service in May 1994.