Nagaland team accorded warm welcome

Our Correspondent
Imphal, May 4 (EMN): The Nagaland team, who secured third position in the overall medal tally of the Northeast Regional Sports Week which concluded in Imphal on Tuesday, was warmly welcomed home on Wednesday.

Sharing the photographs of the welcome programme on social media, President of Nagaland Athletics Association and Vice President of Athletics Federation of India, Abu Metha wrote, “.. the Nagaland Table Tennis team was warmly welcomed and congratulated after its commendable performance at the North East Sports Festival in Imphal at the Office of the Nagaland Olympic Association by the Nagaland Table Tennis Association and the Nagaland Olympic Association … Well Done and Keep Winning ..”

On Tuesday, Nagaland ranked third by securing 20 medals — 4 gold, 4 silver and 12 bronze — with Manipur ranking overall champion and Assam in the second position.

The 89-member Nagaland team led by Chef-de-mission, Zhopovi Zecho participated in archery, badminton, boxing, football and table tennis. The four gold medals of Nagaland came from Boxing (3) and Archery (1).

Commenting on the overall performance of Nagaland team, Zhopovi Zecho said, ‘We are doing well this time compared to the bygones days with the support of the present government. To be honest, we should be more than this, but as we know Rome was not built in a day, we can’t achieve all in one go’.

Stating that Archery and Boxing performance was pretty good, he said, ‘We got many medals, even in football (girls), we settled with bronze medal after a good fight. However, he admitted that the Table Tennis and Badminton team could not perform as expected. ‘But I’m elated to be a part of this tournament as all the officials as well as athletes had a good experience. We thank God for his blessings as none of the contingent faced any untoward incident’, he added.