Four-day meet from today
By Imtiaz Ahmed
The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium complex at Polo Ground was abuzz with hectic activities this afternoon as sportspersons from across the Northeast poured in since this morning.
Altogether 1,350 sportspersons from all the eight states of the region, including Sikkim, had registered till this evening for the tournament starting tomorrow.
The meet, sponsored by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and organized by the Meghalaya sports and youth welfare department, will conclude on April 23.
Meghalaya additional chief secretary P.B.. Warjri will inaugurate the event tomorrow at 9am that will be followed by karate and basketball matches. Football, however, will precede the opening ceremony and commence from 7am with hosts Meghalaya playing Manipur in the opening encounter.
The other disciplines in the tournament include athletics, archery, boxing, badminton, table tennis, wushu and judo. Barring football, all the other disciplines will be for both men and women.
However, the basic purpose of renaming the event from the erstwhile Northeast Sports Festival to Northeast Games in order to bring in a competitive spirit has once again been defeated as most of the states have sent second string outfits citing “internal constraints”.
The event was rechristened as Northeast Games in 2005 on the basis of a proposal by the then Assam director of sports, Dhruba Hazarika.
Sources in the organizing body, however, said the criteria set for the event was a factor states fail to comply with in fielding their best teams, especially in football.
“For instance, football is a very professional sport. Every state use to field players recruited from other parts of country and professionals usually switch loyalty to other states quite frequently. Under those circumstances, the criterion of permanent residency of over five years cannot be met,” said one of the football officials, who did not wish to be named.
Besides, he felt the leading players of any state would not prefer to participate in an event where they are accommodated in schools and dormitories and are not adequately compensated.
The players here are being accommodated in various school buildings adjoining Polo Ground, the chef de missions in guest houses and the officials from different states are making their own arrangements in their respective state houses and other establishments.
The SAI, however, has its own argument saying the Northeast Games was meant only for the people of the Northeast. “It is meant for development of sports in the Northeast and its sportspersons. The purpose is to tap talents who could be groomed,” a SAI official said.
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