Last night in Shillong, Meghalaya passed the host baton of the North East Olympic Games to Nagaland. The year for the 3rd edition is yet to be declared but whenever it is, the state needs to start the preparations right away because the North East Olympic Games must grow bigger and better with every edition.
The Games that concluded yesterday was conducted at 12 venues across Shillong.
Conrad Sangma, Chief Minister of Meghalaya, while acknowledging the “infrastructure limitations” said the state government is “investing a lot of money towards sports infrastructure development”.
Accepting the opportunity to host the next Games, Chief Minister of Nagaland Neiphiu Rio lauded Sangma for his “exemplary leadership” on Twitter and said: “We look forward to welcoming the sports fraternity & youth of the region, to Nagaland, in the next edition.”
Congratulations to Meghalaya & the NE Olympic Assoc. for successful conduct of @neolygames. I laud @conradsangma for his exemplary leadership in ensuring a successful Games. We look forward to welcoming the sports fraternity & youth of the region, to Nagaland, in the next edition
— Neiphiu Rio (@Neiphiu_Rio) November 16, 2022
The 2nd North East Olympic Games 2022 concluded on Wednesday evening at the host city Shillong with a celebratory closing function which saw the sportspersons unwinding after days of hard competition.
Around 3,000 participants from the Northeastern states of India – Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura – assembled at the capital of ‘The Abode of Clouds’ Meghalaya to contest in 18 disciplines for 980 medals in total.
The 2nd edition of the NE Olympic Games saw encouraging growth in the field of sports in the NE region. In the 1st edition, which was held in Manipur in the year 2018, around 2,000 sportspersons had competed for 553 medals across 12 disciplines.
Golf, swimming, tennis, wrestling, cycling and bicycle were the new disciplines that were included at the Shillong Games.
Manipur being declared the overall champion of the Games was not a surprise though one would have expected Assam to be on top. Afterall, the other NE states come nowhere close with the host of the 33rd National Games of India when it comes to sports infrastructure.
Team Nagaland made the state remarkably proud by bringing home 78 medals in total including 18 gold, 17 silver and 43 bronze. The team showed noteworthy improvements compared to the last meet in 2018 where Nagaland got a total of 41 medals out of which there were 6 gold, 9 silver and 26 bronze.
The top highlights of the NE Olympic Games 2022 for the state were Niansai T and Neiketoulie Belho being awarded best athletes.
Read more: Niansai T and Neiketoulie Belho awarded best athletes at NE Olympic Games 2022
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There were also other several sportspersons who won multiple medals such as Venuzo Dawhuo, Songmo P, Peiheitelie Esalung, Debahuti Lehon, Edikunu Rikha, Vilasier Khate, Keneisezotuo Whuorie, Tsujen and Keduhoto Zao.
Archer Edikunu Rikha won 4 medals that included 1 gold and 3 silver. On the final day of the games, Rikha got her gold in Archery Women Individual Olympic Round and a silver in Archery Recurve Mix Team.
Credit: @NagalandOlympic/Twitter
Also on Wednesday, Litsamong Bronze Karate won a bronze in U-69kg Men, Venu Vadeo got a bronze in Wrestling 79 kg Men, Zhosato Vadeo got bronze in Boxing 75 kg Men, Imsubenla won Bronze in Boxing 54kg Women, Kughaho Swu won Silver Boxing 48 kg Men, Tiabenla Jamir won Bronze in Karate U-68+ kg Women, Maiham Girisa won Bronze in Boxing 63.5 kg Men, N Ongwang Konyak won Bronze in Boxing 57 kg Men, Vilasier Khate and Keneisezotuo Whuorie won gold in Men Doubles Lawn Tennis, Nekhoto Tinyi got bronze in Athletics 100M Men, Kusai got bronze in Wrestling 65kg Men, Chusen got silver in Wrestling 57 kg Women, Keneiselie got silver in Wrestling 70kg Men, Mhaneikholie won silver in Wrestling 74 kg Men, the Archery Compound Women Team won bronze and the Basketball Men’s team won silver.
