Abu Metha announces mascot of cross country championships

Dimapur, March 21 (EMN): Vice President of Nagaland Athletics Federation of India (AFI) Abu Metha revealed that the mascot for the South Asian Cross Country Championships and 56th National Cross-Country Championships is ‘Akimji’, a happy, running Hornbill.

 Metha shared that ‘Akimji’ is a Sumi word that connotes ‘aim, goal or ambition’, during an interaction with AIR personnel at Nagaland Olympic Association Office Kohima on Tuesday.

He said more than 20 athletes were in the Nagaland team and ‘they will have the opportunity to compete in their own backyard, perform well and get selected to represent India at international events’, an update from DIPR stated. He informed that the athletes will be running different races of 2 Km to 10 Km and the main events will be held at Indira Gandhi Stadium.

On the selection process of athletes representing the state, he said the coaches, technical officials were trained first and then they conducted three events where the best performing athletes were selected. A state level coaching camp for the athletes was conducted for 30 days.

The Nagaland Athletics Association officially handed over the uniforms to the Nagaland Team participating in the upcoming South Asian Cross Country Championships and the 56th National Cross Country Championships on Sunday evening.

Handing out the uniforms designed by an in-house team, Abu Metha gave an illustration of how the athletes have earned the uniform. “Value it and wear it with pride. Make our Nagaland and India proud”, he was quoted as saying, according to the update.

Altogether 26 athletes from Nagaland will be taking part in the sporting event scheduled to be held at Indira Gandhi Stadium, Kohima on March 26. They are currently being coached by a head coach and a high performance coach.

An organising committee has also been set up for the upcoming event with chief minister of Nagaland, Neiphiu Rio as the convenor.

South Asian countries including Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India have confirmed their participation making up for a total of 71 participants from the international team.

The event is scheduled to be held on March 26 at Indira Gandhi Stadium, Kohima, Nagaland wherein both the international team and national team will start arriving in Nagaland two days prior to the event on March 24 and 25 respectively. 

A total of 667 athletes from different states of India including 31 states and three boards will be part of the sporting event. These include Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Kerala, Karnataka, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Punjab, Pondicherry, Sikkim, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttrakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and boards namely All India Police Sports Control, Railway Sports Promotion Board, Service Sports Control Board.

Caption:  Abu Metha with the participants of the upcoming South Asian Cross Country Championship and the 56th National Cross Championship at the Nagaland Olympic Association Office, Kohima on Tuesday (DIPR).