Jarring note in Sports development
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: September 18, 2012 -

Union DoNER Minister Paban Singh Ghatowar presenting incentive reward to boxer Laishram Devevdro :: Pix - Hueiyen Lanpao

There may be no two arguments on the dominance of Manipuri players in the field of sports. But this fact has been reinforced further from the visit of Union Minister of State in-charge of Ministry for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) and Chairman of North Eastern Council (NEC) Paban Singh Ghatowar to Imphal specially to honour the participants of London Olympics, 2012 from the North Eastern states with incentive awards and to inaugurate a three-day long seminar on development of sports in the region.

In all 10 Olympians from the region including five from Manipur represented the country in the recent London Olympics2012.

The 10 Olympians from the region are boxers MC Mary Kom (Manipur), Laishram Devendro (Manipur) and Shiva Thapa (Assam), archers Laishram Bombayla (Manipur), Tarundeep Rai (Sikkim), Jayanta Talukdar (Assam) Chekrovolu Swuro (Nagaland), weightlifter Ngangbam Soniya Chanu, tennis player Somdev Barman (Tripura) and hockey player Khadangbam Kothajit (Manipur).

With exception to Mary Kom, who was given Rs 40 lakh for bringing home a bronze medal from London Olympics in women's 51 kg boxing, the remaining nine NE Olympians were presented Rs 5 lakh each.

The event also saw presentation of the long awaited cash incentive awards to Manipuri players who won medals in the 34th National Games held at Jharkhand last year.

Such encouragement would definitely go a long way in boosting the morale of the sportspersons from one of the most ignored and neglected region of the country.

On the other hand, it may be, perhaps, for the first time that NEC has sponsored a seminar on development of sports not only in the North Eastern region but also in the whole country.

The three-day long seminar, which concluded today (September 17) has given focus on fourteen sports disciplines including Olympic as well as Non-Olympic events, namely Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Boxing, Equestrian, Football, Gymnastics, Handball, Judo, Rowing, Taekwondo, Table Tennis, Weightlifting and Wushu.

The main objective of organizing the seminar is said to be for submission of the findings and recommendations to the Union Minister of Sports, Minister of DoNER and other Chief Ministers concerned for further development of sports in the North Eastern region.

While we have to wait and see the outcome of the seminar, the voice of dissent raised from first Manipuri Olympian and veteran Hockey player P Nilkomol over sidelining Hockey, which is also the National Game, should not be taken lightly.

In fact, out of 13 Olympians that Manipur has produced so far, three of them namely Nilkomol, Thoiba and Kothajit, are from Hockey.

That only shows the potential of Hockey players from Manipur. So, exclusion of Hockey from discussion in the seminar, while giving focus on some other disciplines wherein the North Eastern region, or for that matter India, has not been able to produce any notable player even at the National level, forget about International level, definitely says something 'jarring' which not many people, particularly the Hockey players, would find hard to listen and digest.