Following an advisory from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to its affiliates and federations to refrain from using the word ‘Olympic’, the North East Olympic Association has decided to drop the word from both ‘North East Olympic Association’ and ‘North East Olympic Games’ and rename them ‘North East Sports Association’ and ‘North East Games’.

IOA had earlier on 31st March 2022 received directions from the International Olympic Committee against the use of the word ‘Olympic’ and its logo as it is copyrighted and they are a registered trademark protected under the Olympic Charter and to the International Olympic Committee.

The decisions to rechristen the name of the Association and the sports meet was made during a virtual meeting of the presidents and secretaries of Olympic associations from all the eight North East States on Tuesday, the Secretary General of NE Sports Association, John Kharshing, informed in a press release.

During the meeting, the preparations for the upcoming 3rd North East Games 2024 were also reviewed. The biggest sports meet in the region is going to be hosted by Nagaland this month from 18th to 23rd.

“.. all material, merchandise, brandings, publicity, etc related to the North East Games will henceforth be used with the new nomenclatures, however all that has been produced and manufactured prior to this advisory cannot be changed due to paucity of time and resources,” the Association further informed.

Just the day earlier, the Nagaland Olympic Association had released the official emblem of the 3rd North East Olympic Games with the trademarked Olympic rings in it.

The meeting was chaired by Abu Metha, Working President, NE Sports Association & Secretary General, NOA, and attended by Presidents /Secretary representatives from Arunachal, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland Sikkim, while Tripura could not attend.

Read more: Official emblem of 3rd North East Olympic Games unveiled