Correspondent
Kohima, October 18
Manipur has emerged as the overall champions of the 24th National Sepaktakraw Championship held at Indira Gandhi Stadium here.
On the last day of the championship, Manipur clinched another gold in the men’s event to tally four gold out of the six event held during the last three days to be the overall champions.Manipur won gold medals in the men and women’s team and regu events. Host Nagaland winning one gold, two silvers and a bronze were placed second position in the overall championship. Nagaland won gold in women’s double event, silver medals in men’s doubles and women’s team event and bronze in men’s team event to be the second position holders of the championship.
Other winners include Services Selection Board (SSB) won gold in men’s doubles event and silver in men’s regu event. Delhi won silver in men’s team event and bronze in men’s regu event. Assam won silver in women’s regu event, bronze in women’s team event and men’s regu event. Andhra Pradesh won silver in women’s double event and bronze in women’s regu event. Odissa were joint bronze medal winners of men’s doubles event and women’s team event. Uttar Pradesh won bronze medal in men’s team event while Goa and Bihar were declared joint bronze medal winners of women’s doubles event. Mizoram bagged bronze medal in men’s double event.
Host of dignitaries including Nagaland Minister for Youth Resources and Sports Merentoshi R Jamir gave away the prizes to the winners in different categories.
Meanwhile, secretary of Goa Sepaktakraw Association Shankar P Desai and also players of Chandigarh Siddhant, Verma, Himanshu Dinzola, Rohit Kumar, Karanvir Singh and Avnit Singh expressed that the overall tournament was magnificent hosted by Nagaland.
Desai, who has been in Sepaktakraw for last 15 years expressing satisfaction said “we have seen Naga people serving people from other parts of the country”. Having attended around eight such championships, he said “the inaugural function was very disciplined and well organized” besides being very systematically held. There has not been any scope of complaint for the visiting teams and states, he said.
Players from Chandigarh said we have been provided with the best arrangement and the entire tournament was beautifully hosted. Himanshu, who had been here during the Junior National Championship in 2009, said “the facilities have improved and the stadium provided is one of the best.
He also lauded the behavior and hospitality of the volunteers while also stating that even the security arrangement was excellent. The Chandigarh players though could not take back any medals in the championship, but expressed happiness that they were fortunate to view the magnificent scenic nature of Nagaland.
The championship was hosted by Nagaland Sepaktakraw Association (NASTA) under the aegis of Sepaktakraw Federation of India (STFI) and Department of Youth Resources & Sports, Government of Nagaland.
