300 plus strong State contingent for 3rd NE Games: Chef de Mission

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Mar 12 : Manipur is all set to send a strong 300 plus contingent for the 3rd North East Games beginning on  March 18.
This was informed by vice president of Manipur Olympic Association and State's Chef de Mission for the games, Moirangthem Ratankumar during a press conference held this evening  at the conference hall of the Manipur Olympic Association. Deputy Chefs de Mission, N Ibungochoubi and Y Bony were also present during the conference.
Speaking to media persons, Ratankumar said that from this edition onwards the sporting extravaganza for the North East States will be known as North East Games in line with Indian Olympic Association's instruction to withdraw the word 'Olympic' from its previous name "North East Olympic Games". Further, the North East Olympic Association, which is a conglomerate body of Olympic Associations of all the North-East States has been renamed as the North East Sports Association, he said.
For the Nagaland games which has been reduced to a 15 -discipline event with the cancellation of Cricket, Manipur is all prepared to send a strong 300 plus member contingent, Ratankumar said.
The entry process for the athletes was completed on March 9 and the contingent will head for Kohima in batches on March 16 and 17, he said.
Most of the events will be held in Chumoukedima district while athletics events will be held in Kohima, said the MOA vice president. Even as he did not respond to a query pertaining to the State contingent's possible performance at the games, he called for a collective effort to maintain Manipur's stature at the games having secured overall team champions title in both the previous editions.
Deputy Chef de Mission, N Ibungochoubi meanwhile, informed that the lists of players and officials of the State contingent will soon be made public although he could not give a proper reply to a query regarding the preparedness of teams of 15 disciplines.
He also highlighted that two experienced members of the MOA, Johnson and Jayenta, have been assigned as media co-ordinators to ensure proper updates of the games to sports enthusiasts in the State.
Notably, Manipur were crowned champions of the first edition which was hosted in Imphal in 2018 winning as many as 80 gold, 48 silver and 31 bronze medals in 12 sports disciplines before retaining the title in the second edition which was hosted by Meghalaya in 2022. Assam and Arunachal Pradesh have finished first runners up and second runners up in both the editions.