Shillong Lajong beat Pailan Arrows
Imphal, November 19: North East India’s only I league team Lajong FC,Shillong managed to get 8 points from its six matches in the ongoing coveted football tournament of the country.
With two draws besides losing twice in the previous matches Lajong won in two matches including the day’s match with Kolkata based Pailan group owned by Pailan Arrows at the Khuman Lampak main stadium here on Saturday afternoon. Lajong beat Pailan Arrows 1-0 today.
Lajong’s solitary goal in their sixth match here was scored in the 35th minute when Jersey number 7 Lalramluaha converted a direct kick into a goal.
In their first match on October 29 at their home ground here Lajong had defeated Hindustan Aeronautical Limited(HAL),Bangalore 1-0 to climb point tally. However they played a goalless draw when they play with Air India on November 10.
Reacting to the day’s match,Pailan Arrows Coach Sukhvinder Singh said,“We played at our best.We also create chances but couldn’t convert it into goals.But it was a bad luck for us.”
Stating that they have more or less dominated the match,the coach also blamed the condition of the playfield saying “the ground too hard to play for our boys.You cannot expect good soccer in such type of ground”.
It may be noted that after Lajong selected Imphal as its homeground for the I league,a three member AFC team including one official from Japan and Korea gave green signal to hold I league matches at Khuman Lampak main stadium ground which has so far become the highest attendance (11000) stadium of the I league.
Many Lajong fans in group turned up to watch the day’s show. “Altogether 50 of us from our village came to watch the match as one of our elder brother(Seikhohao Tuboi) is playing for Lajong”,says Tuboi’s younger brother Lena(24).“We’re proud of him for playing in such a coveted tournament.”
Like Lena,many near and dear ones of Manipuri players who plays for both Lajong and Pailan Arrows came and witnessed the match. Around 7 players from Manipur plays for Lajong which is scheduled to face reputed Mohan Bagan in Imphal on December 2 afternoon.
Our Special Correspondent Source: Hueiyen News Service
Assam girls become national champions
Sports reporter
GUWAHATI, Oct 31 – Assam became proud winners of All India U-19 Women’s One-day Cricket Championship.
In the summit clash at Bhopal today, Assam outplayed Himachal Pradesh by eight wickets.
Opting to bat first, the Himachal girls managed to score 96 all out in 43.3 overs. Urmila Chaterjee and Chanum Leima took two wickets each while Monikha Das, Debashree Konwar and Ritu Dhrub bagged one wicket each. As in the previous matches, Assam fielders performed tremendously today. Three of the Himachal batsmen were run out.
For Assam, Anita Lodh and Archana Dutta remained unbeaten with 50 and 21 respectively. Assam Cricket Association secretary Bikash Baruah informed that all the players and team officials will be given Rs 30,000 each. BCCI will also provide Rs 5 lakh to the Assam team for winning the title. After 1994-95, for the first time, an Assam team has won a national cricket championship. In the 1994-95 season, Assam were champions in U-16 VM Trophy.
This time the Assam team remained unbeaten in the entire tournament. In the zonal tournament, Assam beat Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa and Tripura while in the national level Assam girls downed Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh in final.
The team will arrive here tomorrow. ACA will felicitate the team at Nehru Stadium at 3 pm immediately after their arrival.
Brief scores: Himachal 96 (SB Verma 34, NH Chouhan 23, DG Thakur 16, Urmila Chatterjee 2/11, Chanu M Leima 2/11).
Assam 97/2 (Anita Lodh 50 n.o, Archana Dutta 21 n.o).
Source: Assam Tribune
Assam girls continue winning run
Sports reporter
GUWAHATI, Oct 26 – The Assam women U-19 team continued their winning run in the All India Super League-cum-Knock out Cricket Tournament. Assam recorded their third consecutive victory handing a 60-run drubbing to Haryana.
In a one-sided match at Bhopal today, Assam posted an imposing total of 161 for six in the stipulated 50 overs and restricted the opponent to 101 for nine.
Sapna Choudhury was the leading run getter for Assam with a compact 72. Archana Dutta added 36.
For Assam, Babli Gogoi took two wickets while Monikha Das, Deboshree Konwar, Anita Lodhi and Ritu Dhrub took one wicket each. Three Haryana batsmen were run out. In the next match, Assam will play against Andhara Pradesh on October 28.
Brief scores: Assam 161/6 (Sapna Choudhury 72, Archana Dutta 36). Haryana 101/9 (Megha Sarma 22).
Source: Assam Tribune
DCCC, NCC win in inter club ranking T20 cricket
ITANAGAR, Nov 17: Donyi Colony Cricket Club (DCCC) and Nirjuli Cricket Club (NCC) won their respective group matches played against Jaryir Cricket Club ‘Hime’ and United Capital Cricket Club in the on going U-19 Inter Club ranking T20 Cricket Tournament at Naharlagun Cricket ground today.
Donyi Colony Cricket Club beat Jaryir Cricket Club ‘Hime’ by 59 runs. Sams Alam of Donyi Colony Cricket Club was declared Man of the Match (MoM). Nirjuli Cricket Club won by 3 wickets against United Capital Cricket Club. Kamsa Yangfo of Nirjuli Cricket Club was declared Man of the Match.
Today’s match
1. Nirjuli Legends Cricket Club vs United Toru Cricket Club at 8 am
2. Kargu Kardi Cricket Club vs Gichik Abu Cricket Club at 12.30 pm
Source: The Arunachal Times
Sehwag slams ton to put India in sound position
Ahmedabad, Nov 4 (PTI): Virender Sehwag slammed his 22nd century in his 82nd match to place India in a sound position on the first day of the opening Test of the best-of-three series against visitors New Zealand at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera here today.
The Delhi daredevil put the thin visiting team bowling attack to the sword in racing to his three-figure knock as the home team, opting to bat first on winning the toss, rattled up a score of 243 for one wicket at tea.
Sehwag was on 152 which was embellished with a six off debutant Kane Williamson and 22 fours that came off 172 balls, while an extra-cautious Rahul Dravid was on 61 in 188 minutes with nine fours. It was his 60th half-century in his 145th match.
Source: The Assam Tribune
Grand CWG finale, India finish 2nd
NEW DELHI, Oct 14 – The country’s competitors came out with flying colours and helped India finish a historic second in the final pecking order with more than 100 medals as the Commonwealth Games, that had a troubled build-up but proceeded smoothly thereafter, came to a close today.
A record medal haul of 38 gold, 27 silver and 36 bronze medals, the best-ever harvest for the country in the Games history, helped India climb to the record-high second position and end the multi-discipline event on a thumping note.
The main haul of these 101 medals came from the shooting range, wrestling mat, boxing ring, archery range and, to everyone’s surprise, the track and field events, to provide the country with a reasonably strong sports foundation on which to build a more powerful edifice.
The country had several highs and a number of sports heroes and heroines in the 12-day sports festival that commenced with a spectacular opening ceremony on October 3.
There was the rifle-shooting ace Gagan Narang, the Hyderabadi, who scooped up four gold medals but could not achieve the feat of overhauling five-gold hero of the 2006 Melbourne Games – ‘Goldfinger’ Samresh Jung.
There was the teenage woman archer Deepika Kumari, daughter of an auto-rickshaw driver, who held her nerves even as the more seasoned Dola Banerjee wilted, to come up with a golden double in the women’s recurve event.
The track and field events witnessed India’s first gold medal in 52 years when Krishna Poonia led a clean sweep of the women’s discus throw, Harwant Kaur and Seema Antil winning the silver and bronze.
Later the women’s 4x400m relay squad also struck an unexpected gold with a superb display that pushed Nigeria and England to second and third places.
Just when the titles seemed to be drying up at the end, the women shuttlers, led by this year’s Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardee Saina Nehwal, brought down two gold medals to bring down the curtains on the country’s competitive show with a bang.
Those two gold medals in badminton were vital to help India push England to the third place by the skin of their teeth, India’s gold tally becoming 38 on the last day after they trailed their rivals going into the final day today.
The men’s hockey team, whose fortunes are followed closely by the sports fans of the country, made history by making it to the final for the first time before coming a cropper against world and defending champions Australia in today’s summit clash.
The 8-0 defeat was huge and one of the biggest suffered by the country, but the positives were the stirring displays put up against Pakistan and England, against whom the squad fought back from 1-3 down to win the semi final via the penalty shoot-out.
On the organisational front, after the ‘shambolic’ build-up that included a dirty athletes village and other shortcomings leading to threats of pull-out by leading competing nations, the Commonwealth Games was today given a pat on the back by CGF chief Michael Fennell in his concluding media conference.
“Delhi has performed and the overall image of the Games has been extremely positive,” declared Commonwealth Games Federation chief Fennell on the last day of the multi-discipline event.
“Leading up to the Games, people were not sure whether to go to India or not after all those reports (about the less than perfect build-up) came out. When I was going to India on September 23 I was even asked when would I announce the cancellation of the Games,” Fennell told a press conference.
“I said our job is to fix the problems and not to give up. I had said in a press conference at that time (before the Games) when asked whether there was Plan B and I said Plan B is Delhi. It was always Delhi and Delhi has performed,” Fennell said.
But there were a lot of shortcomings – especially relating to sale of tickets, transport of athletes, officials and media and the Games info system that crashed totally and showed signs of getting back on track only towards the end.
The last-hour scramble to complete the infrastructure for the Games, including the village, led to less-than-perfect conditions that were expectedly criticised by several quarters before things were brought on track by the government authorities.
A lot of lessons need to be learned after the conduct of such a complex multi-discipline extravaganza by the organisers if India’s dream of hosting an Olympic Games in the future is to bear fruit.
In the action-packed sports arena, it was a foregone conclusion that Indian shooters were the competitors to beat at the range and this proved correct though in the ultimate analysis the overall figures could have been a little better, especially in the gold stakes.
Narang missed two gold medals in his least favourite event, the 50m prone, where he ended outside the medal bracket.
He had captured the 10m air rifle pairs with Beijing Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra and then upset his teammate for the individual title. He claimed two more gold – in 50m 3-position.
The hosts won 30 shooting medals including 14 gold, 11 silver and five bronze medals in the Games. Of those, only three came from the shotgun range.
If Indian marksmen were the primary contributors to country’s rich medal haul the wrestling contingent were not far behind winning 19 medals in the 21 designated events. Among the 19 medals, there were 10 gold, five silver and four bronze medals.
If Sushil Kumar literally walked his way to gold, the women wrestlers participating in the Games for the first time stole the show with a memorable performance.
In the six events for women, India won three gold, two silver and a bronze medal to show their supremacy in the freestyle category.
The trio of Alka Tomar, Geeta and Anita won their final bouts with ease, while Babita Kumari and Nirmala Devi missed out on yellow metal losing their final rounds but their performance drew praise from none other than superstar of Indian wrestling — Sushil.
“I am very happy for the girls’ performance. I hope they would keep up the good work,” Sushil said.
India achieved unprecedented success in athletics by bagging 12 medals, including two gold, but a dope flunk took away some of the sheen off the glorious feat in the Games.
India’s 12 medals which came from athletics here were two more than the number it won in all the earlier editions.
Just as the Indians basked in the glory of their track and field success, a rude shock hit them with woman 20km race walker Rani Yadav flunking a dope test for a banned steroid.
She was provisionally suspended and her ‘B’ sample called for confirmatory test.
Two other athletes, Nigerians Osayemi Oludamola and Samuel Okon tested positive for banned stimulant Methylhexaneamine. Women’s 100m gold winner was stripped of her medal while Okon finished outside the medal bracket. These were the only positive dope cases in the Games till the final day.
Krishna Poonia created history by breaking India’s 52-year-old Commonwealth Games gold medal jinx by winning the yellow metal in women’s discus throw with the event also setting a Grand CWG finale, India finish 2nd
NEW DELHI, Oct 14 – The country’s competitors came out with flying colours and helped India finish a historic second in the final pecking order with more than 100 medals as the Commonwealth Games, that had a troubled build-up but proceeded smoothly thereafter, came to a close today.
A record medal haul of 38 gold, 27 silver and 36 bronze medals, the best-ever harvest for the country in the Games history, helped India climb to the record-high second position and end the multi-discipline event on a thumping note.
The main haul of these 101 medals came from the shooting range, wrestling mat, boxing ring, archery range and, to everyone’s surprise, the track and field events, to provide the country with a reasonably strong sports foundation on which to build a more powerful edifice.
The country had several highs and a number of sports heroes and heroines in the 12-day sports festival that commenced with a spectacular opening ceremony on October 3.
There was the rifle-shooting ace Gagan Narang, the Hyderabadi, who scooped up four gold medals but could not achieve the feat of overhauling five-gold hero of the 2006 Melbourne Games – ‘Goldfinger’ Samresh Jung.
There was the teenage woman archer Deepika Kumari, daughter of an auto-rickshaw driver, who held her nerves even as the more seasoned Dola Banerjee wilted, to come up with a golden double in the women’s recurve event.
The track and field events witnessed India’s first gold medal in 52 years when Krishna Poonia led a clean sweep of the women’s discus throw, Harwant Kaur and Seema Antil winning the silver and bronze.
Later the women’s 4x400m relay squad also struck an unexpected gold with a superb display that pushed Nigeria and England to second and third places.
Just when the titles seemed to be drying up at the end, the women shuttlers, led by this year’s Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardee Saina Nehwal, brought down two gold medals to bring down the curtains on the country’s competitive show with a bang.
Those two gold medals in badminton were vital to help India push England to the third place by the skin of their teeth, India’s gold tally becoming 38 on the last day after they trailed their rivals going into the final day today.
The men’s hockey team, whose fortunes are followed closely by the sports fans of the country, made history by making it to the final for the first time before coming a cropper against world and defending champions Australia in today’s summit clash.
The 8-0 defeat was huge and one of the biggest suffered by the country, but the positives were the stirring displays put up against Pakistan and England, against whom the squad fought back from 1-3 down to win the semi final via the penalty shoot-out.
On the organisational front, after the ‘shambolic’ build-up that included a dirty athletes village and other shortcomings leading to threats of pull-out by leading competing nations, the Commonwealth Games was today given a pat on the back by CGF chief Michael Fennell in his concluding media conference.
“Delhi has performed and the overall image of the Games has been extremely positive,” declared Commonwealth Games Federation chief Fennell on the last day of the multi-discipline event.
“Leading up to the Games, people were not sure whether to go to India or not after all those reports (about the less than perfect build-up) came out. When I was going to India on September 23 I was even asked when would I announce the cancellation of the Games,” Fennell told a press conference.
“I said our job is to fix the problems and not to give up. I had said in a press conference at that time (before the Games) when asked whether there was Plan B and I said Plan B is Delhi. It was always Delhi and Delhi has performed,” Fennell said.
But there were a lot of shortcomings – especially relating to sale of tickets, transport of athletes, officials and media and the Games info system that crashed totally and showed signs of getting back on track only towards the end.
The last-hour scramble to complete the infrastructure for the Games, including the village, led to less-than-perfect conditions that were expectedly criticised by several quarters before things were brought on track by the government authorities.
A lot of lessons need to be learned after the conduct of such a complex multi-discipline extravaganza by the organisers if India’s dream of hosting an Olympic Games in the future is to bear fruit.
In the action-packed sports arena, it was a foregone conclusion that Indian shooters were the competitors to beat at the range and this proved correct though in the ultimate analysis the overall figures could have been a little better, especially in the gold stakes.
Narang missed two gold medals in his least favourite event, the 50m prone, where he ended outside the medal bracket.
He had captured the 10m air rifle pairs with Beijing Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra and then upset his teammate for the individual title. He claimed two more gold – in 50m 3-position.
The hosts won 30 shooting medals including 14 gold, 11 silver and five bronze medals in the Games. Of those, only three came from the shotgun range.
If Indian marksmen were the primary contributors to country’s rich medal haul the wrestling contingent were not far behind winning 19 medals in the 21 designated events. Among the 19 medals, there were 10 gold, five silver and four bronze medals.
If Sushil Kumar literally walked his way to gold, the women wrestlers participating in the Games for the first time stole the show with a memorable performance.
In the six events for women, India won three gold, two silver and a bronze medal to show their supremacy in the freestyle category.
The trio of Alka Tomar, Geeta and Anita won their final bouts with ease, while Babita Kumari and Nirmala Devi missed out on yellow metal losing their final rounds but their performance drew praise from none other than superstar of Indian wrestling — Sushil.
“I am very happy for the girls’ performance. I hope they would keep up the good work,” Sushil said.
India achieved unprecedented success in athletics by bagging 12 medals, including two gold, but a dope flunk took away some of the sheen off the glorious feat in the Games.
India’s 12 medals which came from athletics here were two more than the number it won in all the earlier editions.
Just as the Indians basked in the glory of their track and field success, a rude shock hit them with woman 20km race walker Rani Yadav flunking a dope test for a banned steroid.
She was provisionally suspended and her ‘B’ sample called for confirmatory test.
Two other athletes, Nigerians Osayemi Oludamola and Samuel Okon tested positive for banned stimulant Methylhexaneamine. Women’s 100m gold winner was stripped of her medal while Okon finished outside the medal bracket. These were the only positive dope cases in the Games till the final day.
Krishna Poonia created history by breaking India’s 52-year-old Commonwealth Games gold medal jinx by winning the yellow metal in women’s discus throw with the event also setting a record of first with the country sweeping all the medals.
Harwant Kaur and Seema Antil bagged silver and bronze respectively.
Poonia also became the first Indian woman to bag a Commonwealth Games gold after ‘Flying Sikh’ Milkha Singh won the men’s 440 yards race in 1958 edition in Cardiff, Wales.
The women’s 4x400m relay team of Manjeet Kaur, Sini Jose, Ashwini Akkunji and Mandeep Kaur added another gold in a memorable race, beating strong teams likes Nigeria and England.
It was a 25-year-old girl from a poor family at a non-descript village at Nashik district in Maharashtra who opened the medal floodgates for India by winning a bronze in women’s 10,000m race and she later said she took to athletics as she can run barefooted.
Fancied fisticuff exponents Vijender Singh and Akhil Kumar were ousted early but Indian boxers still delivered a historic golden punch to come up with their best-ever campaign in the Games history.
Source: The Assam Tribune
Puja mandaps draw large crowds on Saptami
Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, Oct 14 – Durga Puja festivities got off to a rousing start on the Maha Saptami day today in the city along with the rest of the State, drawing large crowds to the colourfully-decorated and brightly-illuminated puja mandaps since evening.
Maha Saptami marks the second day of the Goddess’ six-day earthly sojourn.
While the Durga Puja proceedings formally began yesterday with the ceremonial installation of the idols of Goddess Durga and her four children, the celebrations in the real sense of the term began from this evening, with boisterous puja revellers jostling for space with devotees in the mandaps.
The morning hours saw the devout in good numbers visiting the puja mandaps to seek the blessings of the Goddess. But it was since evening that the colourful and boisterous puja crowd started to make its presence felt. The puja-revellers, together with the dazzling illumination and vibrant decorations, created the perfect puja ambience. The magnificent pandals – resembling canvasses of varied hues and designs — vied for attraction of the onlookers.
Puja venues at areas like Beltola, Ganeshguri, Latasil, Chandmari, Athgaon, Nayantara, Maligaon, Pandu, etc., witnessed large crowds as usual. Despite the best efforts of the City Police, prolonged traffic congestions hampered the smooth flow of vehicles and made life difficult for the commuters.
Along with puja venues, restaurants, dhabas and roadside eateries including those that come up overnight on such festive occasions, did brisk business as did petty stores dealing in toys, balloons and children ware. Hot jelebis were among the most sought-after delicacies, with the vendors invariably finding themselves surrounded by eager crowds.
Various puja organizers conducted cultural shows in the evening, featuring a variety of items from nam-kirtans and arati to singing and dance competitions. Competitions among schoolchildren were also organized.
A drizzle in the evening, however, failed to dampen the puja spirit as the ubiquitous puja-hopping crowd was conspicuous in most of the venues.
Source: The Assam Tribune
Laxman steers India to memorable win
MOHALI, Oct 5 – VVS Laxman battled severe back pain to single-handedly take India to a memorable and miraculous one-wicket victory over Australia with a gritty unbeaten 73 in a nail-biting first cricket Test here today, reports PTI.
Laxman, who reserved his best for the Australians, played almost a lone hand in India’s run chase of 216 as his experienced colleagues fell to poor shot selection and umpiring error as he guided India to one of its most memorable Test victories.
Sachin Tendulkar was the second highest Indian scorer with 38 while young Ishant Sharma contributed an invaluable 31 in the Test which went down the wire.
With the victory today, India took an unassailable 1-0 lead in the series and retained the Border Gavaskar Trophy with their seventh highest run chase in history. The two sides now move to Bangalore for the second and final Test starting in Bangalore from October 9.
Laxman, who used runners in both of India’s innings, and Ishant shared an 81-run stand for the ninth wicket from 131 balls and that ensured India achieve what looked impossible when they were looking down the barrel at 124 for eight at one stage.
However with Ishant given a debatable leg before decision by umpire Ian Gould, it was a tense last 15 minutes for the Indian supporters at the PCA Stadium before Laxman and Pragyan Ojha (five not out) took India to the magic score of 216.
India sealed victory with two leg byes got by Pragyan Ojha off Johnson to the wild celebrations at the dressing room and the stands. Laxman faced just 79 balls for his unbeaten 73 which he made with the help of eight fours while Ishant consumed 92 balls for his 31.
It was indeed a ‘Very Very Special’ knock from a man who was not even able to walk properly for the last two days due to back spasms. Each and every of those 73 runs he scored has worth its weight in gold.
Laxman batted only in the manner he is capable of. The backfoot punches through the cover, the short-arm pulls, extra second he takes while hitting those silken boundaries, those supple wrists and egging the Ishant Sharmas and Pragyan Ojhas to run the singles and twos was worth a sight.
But for Ishant, Laxman would not have completed the magnificent win. Having bowled 14 no-balls, being down with a hamstring injury, Ishant may have scored the most significant 31 runs in his career.
Source: The Assam Tribune
Commonwealth Games begins today
Preetom Borooah
NEW DELHI, Oct 2 – The capital city is ready for the inaugural ceremony of the 19th Commonealth Games at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium tomorrow but butterflies are running in the stomach of the top officials of the organising committee and Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit.
Around a lakh security personnel have been deputed at the Games Village and the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium so that no untoward situation occur during the 12-day mega event. All the markets will remain close during the day of opening and closing ceremony.
It may be mentioned that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II had asked the Prince Charles to represent her at the opening of the Games. The Prince will spend time with athletes from a broad cross-section of Commonwealth countries, the release added.
Beijing Olympic gold medallist shooter Avinabh Bindra will be the flag bearer of the Indian contingent. The Indian men athletes will be attired in red sherwani in the march past while the women will come out with saffron and green sarees.
However, ace Indian tennis player Sania Mirza will not be present at tomorrow’s opening ceremony as it was decided today that the tennis star should be given some rest before her mixed doubles match on Monday. Sania and Leander Paes are seeded second in the mixed doubles event and will open their campaign against Nykita Stacey Roheman and Alberton Richlieu of St Lucia.
The three-hour opening ceremony will start at 7 pm which will have two-minute showcasing India as a country and it will be followed by 45-minute cultural show.
The Queen’s Baton will be carried to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium by Vijendra Singh, Mary Kom, Sushil Kumar and Saina Nehwal and it will reach the stadium at 8.25 pm.
Source: The Assam Tribune
Army felicitates Mary Kom
Sobhapati Samom
IMPHAL,Sept 29 – World women’s boxing champion MC Mary Kom,who made history by winning her fifth World Women’s Boxing title at Bridgetown, Barbados, is confident of winning medals in the forthcoming events of the Commonwealth and Asian Games.
“I’m confident of winning in the forthcoming championships,” Mary Kom said while interacting with the mediapersons on the sidelines of a Red Shield-sponsored felicitation function at Leimakhong Army headquarters, 20 km north of here in Senapati district, on Wednesday morning.
Mary is physically and mentally prepared to take on the best in the coming Asian Games to be held at Guangzhou, China in November this year. Mary Kom, the 48kg world title holder, will fight in the higher weight category of 51kg in the coming Asian Games.
The Manipuri braveheart and mother twin kids had bagged her four previous golds in the 46 kg category. But this time, she switched to 48 kg and outclassed her Romanian opponent, Duta Seluta 16-6.
Though she wanted to dedicate her achievement to the country, this 27-year-old boxer’s ultimate goal seems to be winning a gold medal in the Olympic Games in London in 2012.
In today’s function, Maj Gen DS Hooda, General Officer Commanding of 57 Mountain Division, felicitated Mary Kom for her splendid performance of wining the fifth world boxing title in a row.
Considering her tireless efforts at winning medals and guiding young boxers at her own boxing academy located near her official quarters at Langol Games Village in Imphal West district, the GOC assured assistance worth Rs 2 lakh under the Military Civic Action project for the academy. Maj Gen Hooda, appreciating the effort of Mary Kom, said that she is rightly named as ‘Magnificent Mary’ by world boxing as she has brought laurels to the country as well as the State of Manipur.
Source: The Assam Tribune
Mary Kom accorded hero’s welcome
Sobhapati Samom
IMPHAL, Sept 27 – Manipur Government is considering to christen a road or a sports stadium after five times world boxing woman champion MC Mary Kom.
Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh hinted this while speaking at the State sponsored reception to boxer Mary Kom at Khuman Lampak Indoor Stadium here on Saturday.
The woman boxer was accorded a hero’s welcome by the people on her homecoming after the historic victory in the world of sports by clinching the fifth World Championship title consecutively in Barbados recently.
The Chief Minister also said that the government will allot a two-acre plot of land at Langol for expansion of her boxing academy – MC Mary Kom Boxing Academy.
The young boxer and mother of two was also given an incentive cash award of Rs 10 lakh besides promoting her to the rank of Additional Superintendent of Police.
Thousands of people, including students, lined up along the road from Imphal Airport to the city and garlanded the Manipuri boxer. Enthusiastic crowds packed the Indoor Stadium at Khuman Lampak.
The Chief Minister said Manipur is proud of such a talented sportsperson.
Sports Minister, N Biren who presided over the function announced that the government will give an incentive award of Rs 1 crore to sportspersons of Manipur who could secure gold medal in the Olympic Games.
“She is a legend and a rare sportsperson in the world. We are proud of Manipur for producing such a legendary sportsperson,” Biren said wishing that she would bring another landmark achievement in the forthcoming Olympic Games.
Mary Kom, in tearful joy, said that all incentives received by her will be invested in developing her boxing academy. Recalling how she was brought up in a poor family, she said special advantage will be given to poor students in her academy.
Source: The Assam Tribune
