Judoka players of Nagaland state are invited to participate in the first Selection Camp for the forthcoming North East Olympic Games 2022 set to take place in Meghalaya.
The Nagaland Judo Association (NJA), under the aegis of Nagaland Olympic Association (NOA) sent out a press release on 17 October calling for judoka players to come for the selection camp.
The selections called by the NJA will take place on 21 October at the Indira Gandhi (IG) Stadium in Kohima.
On that day, the weigh-in is set to start at 7am while the selections will begin from 9am onwards.
There will be seven weight categories for both Men and Women.
Men: 40 Kg, 45 Kg, 50 Kg, 55 Kg, 60 Kg, 66 Kg, 73 Kg
Women: 34 Kg, 40 Kg, 44 Kg, 48 Kg, 52 Kg, 57 Kg, 63 Kg
Nicholas Khatsu, president of NJA, told Nagaland Tribune that there is no age limit for the selections.
“It’s open for all. We are looking forward to select seven boys and seven girls from the first selection camp,” he said.
According to the NJA press release, participants are to bear their own expenses for food, travel and lodging for the selection trials.
A coaching camp at IG Stadium will begin on 24 October for the selected judoka players.
Khatsu said that the training would continue until the team leaves for Shilling.
The second edition of the North East Olympic Games is going to be held in Shillong from 30 October to 6 November this year.
The eight-day event will see the participation of sports players from all the eight states of Northeast India: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and host Meghalaya.
The Games will feature 18 Olympic sports disciplines – archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, football, judo, karate, shooting, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, wushu, cycling, golf, weightlifting and wrestling.
According to Khatsu, Nagaland will be participating in all the disciplines except for swimming.
In the first edition of the NE Olympic Games held in Manipur in 2018, Nagaland had finished fifth overall, winning six gold, nine silver and 27 bronze medals.
For the upcoming NE Olympic Games in Meghalaya, Khatsu said the selections for the other sports disciplines have all been carried out but added that the response of participants, particularly from women players, has not been very encouraging.
As for Judo, he was hopeful that Nagaland would perform well: “This time in the North East Olympic Games also, we are anticipating. We will see if we can perform.”
While the state does not have players of national and international level, the NJA president was optimistic for the future of the sports discipline in Nagaland.
“I think Judo is one area where we can excel because it is very similar to that of our Naga style of wrestling,” he said.
Judo, a Japanese martial art, was first created in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. It became an Olympic sport in 1964 in the Tokyo Games. A practitioner of Judo is called a Judoka.
For further information on the selection camp, interested participants are requested to contact:
Dr Tali Ao, Secretary, NJA
Mobile: +91-9612-155-250/ +91-8259-023-640
e-mail: temsu.imsong@gmail.com
