Sikkim excels at the 2nd North East Olympic Games

Dr. RB BISWAKARMA

Sikkim won 50 medals in the mega North East Games and the credit goes to Hon’ble Chief Minister of Sikkim, Shri Prem Singh Tamang (Golay) for his firm determination and dedication for the promotion of Sports infrastructures in Sikkim. The day he became the Chief Minister of Sikkim, Games & Sports have flourished in terms of infrastructures and performance. Above results is an output of the policy of the HCM of Sikkim in Sports through which within his short tenure as a CM, Shri P. S. Tamang wholeheartedly guided and funded the Sports Department to initiated the grassroots level Sports schemes like; CM’s One-Mile-Run, Club Culture in every village, infrastructures development at BAC level, completion of pending projects and announced the State Sports Gold, Silver and Bronze Award for the best three U-17 year athletes. The celebration of National Sports Day has been initiated and the best coaches who had done remarkable contributions have been recognized along with the cash incentive for the meritorious athletes and grant-in-aids to the registered Sports Association.
Sikkim Olympic Association managed to send Sikkim’s team at National and North East Olympic Games because of sufficient funds provided by the HCM of Sikkim in terms of cash incentive, training and coaching and promoting the Club culture at village level. On the behalf of the Sports Department, I wish to acknowledge and thank the HCM of Sikkim, Shri Prem Singh for his blessings and guidance for the development of Sports culture in Sikkim and Shri Kunga Nima Lepcha, Hon’ble Minister for SYA for his constant support and guidance to the department in all the time. Special thanks to Shri L.N. Sharma, Hon’ble Minister for Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry and Information and Technology Departments for spared his valuable time to flag off the Sikkim contingent and also sponsored the Sports kits on the behalf of his department. Thanks to Shri Sanjeet Kharel, Hon’ble Minister for Buildings & Housing Department, Social Welfare Department, Women & Child Development Department and Shri Bhim Hang Limboo, Hon’ble Minister for Public Health Engineering Department, Skill Development Department, Water Resources Department for their benevolent present during opening ceremony at Shillong, also for providing the financial supports for the athletes.    
Shri Kuber Bhandari, President, Sikkim Olympic Association and his Executive members deserve special thanks for successful participation in the Games with satisfactory performances. The efforts of the SOA is really appreciable as they had organized the short coaching camp by providing the balance diets, and also announced the cash prizes of Rs. 40,000/-, Rs. 30,000/- and Rs. 20,000 for teams Games and Rs. 15,000/- Rs. 10,000/- and Rs. 5000/- for an individual event for the medal winners athletes. The department is very much thankful to all our beloved dedicated coaches of various sports disciplines for their constant hard work, all the athletes for given their sincere efforts to win the medals and their parents for kind blessings to the athletes and helping the team management.  I am also thankful to the Secretary Sports and Youth Affairs Department, Shri Raju Basnet & Mrs. Doma T. Bhutia, Director, SYA for giving me an opportunity to witness the 2nd North East Olympic Games at Shillong as a department’s observer.     
Sikkim’s Performance
Sikkim was represented by 230 contingent including 197 Athletes (103M & 94F) in 14 Sports disciplines (Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Boxing, Cycling, Football, Golf, Karate, Taekwondo, Table Tennis, Swimming, Weightlifting and Wushu) which is the largest contingent including 31 Officials i.e. coaches & Managers as compared to previous edition of the Games.  
In overall ranking, Sikkim finished at the bottom position with 50 medals including 3 Gold, 16 Silver and 31 Bronze. Winning 16 silver medals means, Sikkim had reached 16 final but failed to win the Gold.  The maximum medals are in Taekwondo i.e. 04 Silver and 10 Bronze. In Karate, there is 01 Gold, 03 Silver & 08 Bronze. In Wushu, there is 02 Silver & 05 Bronze. The remarkable performance is Sikkimese Women Basketball team won the Gold medal defeated the host State Meghalaya in the final with the scores of 87-67 points. Yasika Rai won the first Gold medal for Sikkim in 45-48 Kg Wt. Category in Boxing defeated the Meghalaya Boxer Lalrinchhani Pautu with one sided scores of 5-0 points. Yasika was also adjudged the best female boxer of the Games.  In Boxing, Sikkim won 01 Silver and 04 Bronze Medals. Third Gold medal for Sikkim was won by Neemu Lepcha in 68 kg wt. category defeated Mizoram Karate Girl, Lalrinuali by 5-3 points in dying hour with 3 sec. left time in the match.  It’s a matter of appreciation that in athletics, Sikkimese sprinter/runner begged five Silver and one Bronze medals under the dedicated coach, Mr. R. B. Subba and Mr. Tashi Rana, its means, athletics sports is now back in track. There was some disappointed in football, Table Tennis and Badminton in which we couldn’t win a single medal despite having better infrastructures, sufficient NIS coaches and well managed Sports Associations having run by the heavyweight retired bureaucrat and Govt. officers.
Noteworthy of 2nd North East Olympic Games at Shillong
The prestigious second edition of North East Olympic Games -2022 just concluded at Meghalaya’s capital Shillong on 16th November, 2022 with many remarkable memories for the athletes, coaches, managers and administrators. The host state under the energetic leadership of HCM of Meghalaya, Shri Conrad K. Sangma left no stone unturned for the success of the games in terms of infrastructures, transportation, accommodation, venue preparation, hospitality, and above all the glittering opening & closing ceremony. The way Meghalaya State organized the Games was equivalent to the National Games, and visitors opinioned that Games was dress rehearsal for the upcoming National Games which Meghalaya is planning to host in Shillong in coming days.  Some of the points to note in Shillong’s NE Games was event management i.e. venue preparation was at par with National level with fabulous decoration. There was no complaints and grievances from the athletes and team management, and the atmosphere was very pleasant and eco friendly.  The way, Meghalaya State was spent money for the creations of Sports infrastructures for the cause of youth development activities are appreciable and exemplary for other states of the North East. Shillong is blessed with the natural advantages for the development of Sports infrastructure due to its land formation. Govt. of India has established SAI centre having standard track & field and other indoor sports infrastructure at NEHU. North Eastern Hill University at Shillong has sufficient hostel facilities, guest house and Indoor Hall. There is Army HQ in Shillong having established the national level sports infrastructures in Sports, is a big advantage for the youth related activities
Expression of Solidarity
The North East Olympic Games is an expression of solidarity by the North-Eastern States of the country. Elite athletes assemble from the eight North-Eastern States to compete in various sporting disciplines. The aim of organizing the Games is to encourage greater participation of youth in sporting activities in order to discover talent for higher level & international competitions at an early stage. During closing function, HCM of Meghalaya, Shri Conrad K. Sangma said, “I congratulate each and every one of you, this North East Olympic Games has not only raised the bar in terms of infrastructure and arrangements but the performances of our athletes have been out of this world…That is the most satisfying thing about these Games and I am proud to see the level of talent we have in the North East. I am also proud to be able to hold Games at a level that is comparable to anywhere else in the country. This was only possible because everyone worked as a team. These Games have proven that if you work as a team and dedicate yourself then nothing is impossible.”
Sports Disciplines
Around 3000 athletes competed in 18 disciplines (Archery, Athletic, Badminton, Boxing, Basketball, Cycling, Football, Golf, Judo, Karate, Lawn Tennis, Shooting, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Weightlifting, Wrestling and Wushu) at 12 venues spread across Shillong, 06 more sports disciplines then the first edition in Manipur, which had 12 Sports disciplines. The Games was organized by the government of Meghalaya and the state Olympic Association under the aegis of Northeast Olympic Association (NEOA). The Meghalaya government fully funded the event.
Performance of the host Sate
The most important point to notice in the 2nd NE Olympic Games was the performance of Meghalaya State in the Athletics events in which they won the team championship in athletics by beating Assam and Manipur. Meghalaya finished with a stunning 15 gold medals, along with 9 silver and 17 bronze, for a total of 41, making athletics the most successful discipline for the host state at NEOG 2022. It is worth noting that in the 1st NEOG 2018 in Manipur, Meghalaya had won only 1 gold medal, making this performance, four years on, a truly stunning turnaround, a testament to the effort put in by the athletes, coaches, Meghalaya Government, Department of Sports and Youth Affairs, Meghalaya Athletics Association (MAA) and other stakeholders. MAA Secretary and Meghalaya State Olympic Association General Secretary Finely L Pariat said, “To bag the Overall Champion combined title is no mean achievement. It shows the strength and depth of our athletes. Give them proper coaching, diet, infrastructure, etc and we have potential to produce a national champion,” The hosts Meghalaya, finished in fourth position with 36 gold, which is 12 times as many as last time, along with 35 silver and 78 bronze, altogether 149 medals.
Powerhouse of Sports in NE State
Manipur is no doubt a powerhouse of Sports in NE States. Manipur, which has produced Olympic medal-winning athletes such as boxer MC Mary Kom and weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, overtook Assam. Manipur clinched the top position in the Northeast Olympic Games for the second consecutive time with 240 medals, including 88 Gold, 75 Silver and 77 Bronze while Assam was a close second with 203 medals including 79 Gold, 61 Silver and 63 Bronze.
Arunachal Pradesh is the most progressive State in Sports in recent times and finished in third position with 112 medals including 39 Gold, 36 Silver and 37 Bronze. Arunachal Pradesh dominated the Games in Karate, Taekwondo, Badminton, Judo, Cycling, Shooting, Wrestling, Wushu and Women’s Football including Athletics. In the recently concluded 36th National Games at Gujurat, Arunachal Pradesh finished the 16th position with 7 medals including 6 Gold and 01 bronze.     
Assam totally dominated in swimming with 36 medals including 20 Gold, 12 Silver and 04 Bronze. Mizoram had their dominance in Men’s Football and Boxing. This time Nagaland come up with remarkable performance in all the Sports and finished in 5th position in the medals tally. The 3rd edition of North East Olympic Games will be held in Nagaland in 2024.
Collective Responsibilities
The recent performance of Sikkimese Athletes at 2nd North East Games has definitely opened an eye of Sikkimese people in the field of Games and Sports, and now it’s a better time for an assessment and evaluation for future course of action.  This time we may have an accused of COVID-19, festivity of Deepawali and Dasara before the Games, as a result, we couldn’t focused for systematic coaching for the preparation of the athletes.  We shouldn’t forget that as compared to rest of the North East State, Sikkim is blessed with the geographical and anthropological variation which is a great advantage for sports participation. To win the medals in National level competitions are depends on several factors and it’s a collective responsibilities from the Sports Department, registered Sports Association, parent of the athletes and above all the policy of the Government. As a parent department of the Sports organization, Sports and Youth Affairs Department, Govt. of Sikkim must initiate suitable measures in terms of policy making for infrastructure development, establishment of Sports Academy in elite sports, planning and organizing National level Games and Sports competition in coordination with the various registered sports organization within time bound period for the betterment of Sikkimese Sports and for the prestige of the State.
Conclusion
North East Olympic Games has now become a regular feature held after every two years, and it is a golden platform for the State to showcase sporting talents in term of infrastructures with performance and for the promotion of Tourism Sports in the State. The present results of the 2nd North East Olympic Games has proved that the States having better Sports infrastructures with advanced preparation have occupied the best three positions in medals tally. We hope, Sikkim, under the visionary leadership of HCM Shri Prem Singh Tamang will definitely prepare to occupy the best three positions in next North East Games to be held in Nagaland’s Capital, Kohima in 2024.
(The author is Department’s Observer & Additional Director, SYA)

2^nd North East Olympic Games at Shillong, Meghalaya

10^th to 17^th November, 2022

Medal Tally of Sikkim Contingent