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North
Eastern States are small pockets of mother India. Average people are
poor and majority of them are below poverty line. Communication systems
are also not developed in comparison with other parts of the country.
The question of improving the standard of games and sports in the North
Eastern region has been engaging the attention of the Central Government
for a long time. But a limited action has been taken up for the
development of games and sports in the North East region.
The
youths, particularly the tribes of the North East region, are
descendants from the Mongoloid races. They have strength, speed,
endurance, agility and flexibility etc. to that extent, which can
develop an individual to an all round developed sportsman.
Socio-economic condition, volume of population and climatic condition of
China are almost similar to our North Eastern region. If Chinese can
come up to the world class in Athletics, Gymnastics, Swimming, Diving,
Table tennis, Volleyball, Weight Lifting, Badminton, Fencing, Archery
etc. why not we?
Playing
areas and open spaces in many schools and colleges of the North East
region are not up to the mark of playing condition. Minimum
infrastructures of sports facilities are missing in most of the North
Eastern states. Most of the open spaces are hilly and rocky. Cost of
construction of Stadium, Swimming pool, Track, Court etc, are
comparatively much higher than in other parts of the county due to cost
of materials, transportation, carrying and labour charges etc. the
communication facilities are also poor. The North Eastern states should
not e treated at par with other states of the country. For any centrally
sponsored scheme for construction of infrastructure, the amount should
be more for North East region. Terms and conditions may be relaxed for
NSTC, SPDA and SAG scheme of SAI for this region.
For
conducting the National Athletic Championships, Central Government and
the National Federation have taken decision that the states that are
having the facilities of synthetic track will be allotted the National
Meets. In this issue the North East states will certainly be deprived as
there is few synthetic track in this region, Moreover, the athletes from
this region are also faction lot of problems while competing in the
synthetic track. Naturally, it is a right demand of the athletes of
North East states for a synthetic track for a long time. A synthetic
track may be constructed in this region, and the athletes may take the
opportunity for training before participation in the National Meet. The
spikes, jumping and throwing shoes are also costly for this type of
track. Considering the socio-economic condition of this region the above
mentioned sports gears might be supplied at a subsidized rate. By
considering the physical fitness of the youths of this region we may
undertake special project in Sprint, Middle and Long distance events,
Long Jump, Pole Vault, Javelin Throw and Hammer Throw events.
Even
with limited scope and facilities, the youths of this region have
performed well in the national and international level. North East
states have produced so many internationals. Among them are: Nilkamal,
Thaiba Singh (Hockey), Kunja Rani (Weightlifting), Lal Ren (Archery),
Mantu Debnath, Biswershar Nandi, Rathindra Roy, Balaram Shil, Tapash Dey,
Debashis Dam Chowdhury, Madhusudhan Saha, Y. Bijan Singh, Lupamudra
Ghosh, Kalpana Debnath (Gymnastic), Monalisa Barua (Table Tennis),
Dipankar Bhattacharjee (Badminton), Asis Chakraborty (Swimming), T. Ao,
Baichung Bhutia, Basanta Kabuai, Basumatari, Bijen Singh, Jems Singh,
Arjan Ali, Ranjan Debbarma, Kiran Khongsai, Somatai Saiza, Gunabir
Singh, Suramani Singh, Jewel Bay (Football). Priority may be given to
the games and sports like Athletic, Gymnastics, Swimming, Diving, Weight
Lifting, Boxing, Table Tennis, Badminton, Archery and Hockey for the
North East states.
Football
is a popular game in the North Eastern region. Junior Football
Tournaments at the National level have been dominated by the North
Eastern states Manipur, Assam and Maghalaya. The Subrata Mukerjee
Tournament for schools and the age group tournaments have seen some of
the players from the region emerge into the national limelight. In
Santos Trophy also Manipur and Assam dominated in the past. There is
proposal on the lines of the Fraternity Cup, the Football authorities in
the North East could well be persuaded to organize a tournament for top
club trams from the sister states and the winner of that tournament
could well be provided and entry into the Federation Cup or the All
India Football Federation could allow a North East XI, picked on the
basis of the performance in Fraternity Gold Cup, entry into Federation
Cup. The combined team may be permitted to participate in the
tournaments of Foreign Countries like Bangladesh, Burma and Nepal etc.
This will definitely encourage the Football players of this region and
ultimately the National Team will be benefited.
The
level of physical fitness, physiological and Morphological status of the
youths of the North East region are comparatively higher than in many
other parts of the country. Considering the above facts, for proper
identification of talents in game and event wise, a systematic and
scientific approach may begin with the establishment of a Research
Institute/Department by the SAI in this region. It will show us the
right direction. Multi disciplinary research of sports like Training,
Sports Bio-Mechanics, Training in Ball game, Sports Physiology, Sports
Medicine, Morphological studies and Information (Statistics) may by
established. I the right direction to attain achievement in the
International arena and the hidden treasure of the North East region
will not be lost. |
