Nagaland rank third in Northeast regional sports meet

Dimapur, May 3 (EMN): Nagaland ranked third in the overall medal tally in the Northeast regional sports meet that culminated on Tuesday evening at Imphal.

Nagaland  won 20 medals — four gold, four silver and 12 bronze – and were behind Manipur and Assam  who stood first and second respectively. In a standout player for boxing discipline, Archana Thapa, gold medalist (48kg) from Nagaland won best promising boxer for the women category.

Nagaland was led by Zhopovi Zecho DSO Kohima as chef de mission. A total of 78 athletes with 11 officials from Nagaland participated in five disciplines — archery, badminton, boxing, football and table tennis.

The week-long Northeast regional sports week saw around 700 participants with coaches and officials of seven northeastern states namely host team Manipur, Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura.

The event was held commemorating the 75th years of Independence and celebrating Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav organized by the Youth Affairs and Sports Department funded by the North Eastern Council (NEC).

In the discipline of badminton, Vikehietuo Kense and Tovali Shohe secured bronze for mix doubles and Chubanungla and Yashikala also bronze for women’s double.

For girl’s category in boxing discipline, Archana Thapa secured gold medal for 48kg, SH Shila Devi gold medal for 52 kg, H Jamuna Devi silver medal for 57kg, Sanju silver for 63kg, Nirmal bronze in 60kg and Monu secured silver for 73kg.

For boys category in boxing, Sohil secured gold medal for 60kg, Sachin silver for 57kg, Ruokuovotuo bronze in 75kg, Jhonny Lotha bronze in 70kg.

In archery, Edikunu Rikha secured gold for recurve division. Men’s team won bronze medal both in compound and recurve and women’s team took bronze medal in both compound and recurve.

For mix team, Nagaland won bronze medal in both compound and recurve. For table tennis, Nagaland women’s team won bronze medal in the team event.

Meanwhile, in football, the Nagaland girl’s team lost their semifinal match against host team Manipur 4-0 to miss out on a medal.