Meghalaya News 24 exclusive
Meghalaya Government is all set to build world class sports infrastructure by 2024.
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma told reporters that the proper infrastructure is required to provide space for state athletes to be able to become world class.
“The effort is on and focus is on it and we realize that the proper infrastructure is required to provide space for our athletics to be able to become world class athletics and hopefully one day we will win the Olympic medals also,” Sangma said.
The Meghalaya government has initiated various projects to develop infrastructure in the state in order to produce an Olympian in the next few years.
“We have invested a lot in the infrastructure that is coming up in the JN Complex in polo in Shillong. You will see that in the next year and a half we will have world class indoor as well as outdoor facilities in Shillong,” the Chief Minister said.
“ Similarly in Tura also a close to Rs 125 cr worth of infrastructure is on the verge of being completed and at the same time small infrastructure in different parts of state are also coming up,” he added.
Acknowledging the contribution of the organisers in organising the event, he said that inspite of many challenges the North East Olympics has attracted many athletes to participate.
Chief Minister Sangma said such tournaments were never organised in the Northeast, even the first edition of the North East Olympics had around 15 hundred athletes participate but the number is double.
Meghalaya capped off a remarkable performance in track and field today by claiming the title of Overall Champions in the athletics events at the 2nd North East Olympic Games 2022.
Meghalaya finished with a stunning 15 gold medals, along with 9 silver and 17 bronze, for a total of 41, making athletics far and away the most successful discipline for the host state at NEOG 2022. It is worth noting that at the 1st NEOG 2018 in Manipur, Meghalaya had won only 1 gold medal, making this performance, four years on, a truly stunning turnaround, a testament to the effort put in by the athletes, coaches, Meghalaya Government, Department of Sports and Youth Affairs, Meghalaya Athletics Association (MAA) and other stakeholders.
“To bag the Overall Champion combined title is no mean achievement. It shows the strength and depth of our athletes. Give them proper coaching, diet, infrastructure, etc and we have potential to produce a national champion,” MAA Secretary and Meghalaya State Olympic Association General Secretary Finely L Pariat said.
Assam finished second with 12 gold, 6 silver and 2 bronze and Manipur were third with 10 gold, 14 silver and 9 bronze.
Nagaland collected 9 gold, 4 silver and 10 bronze, while Tripura picked up 2 gold, 7 silver and 7 bronze. Arunachal Pradesh won 1 medal in each category, while Sikkim take home 5 silver and 1 bronze and Mizoram 1 silver.
The triumph for Meghalaya means that they are just 3 gold medals away from third place Arunachal Pradesh in the NEOG 2022 medals table, as of 8:30pm. Arunachal currently lead 35 to 32. Assam hold onto first place but only just – they currently lead Manipur in terms of gold medals by 71 to 70.
The Best Athlete award for Above-20 men was Neiketoulie Belho of Nagaland, the 100m and Long Jump champion. The Above-20 women’s category title was awarded to N Chaoba Devi of Manipur, who won gold in the 800m and 1500m. Arupjyoti Gogoi of Assam was the Under-20 men’s Best Athlete; he won gold in the 100m and 200m races. Nagaland’s Niansai T was the Best Athlete among Under-20 women for winning the 800m and 1500m.
