AT Photo
Imphal, March 24: Manipur will be setting up a Football academy to develop and promote the game of football in the North Eastern state. For this, the state will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the All-India Football Federation (AIFF) for logistics and other support.
Announcing this during opening function of the historic Hero tri-nation international football tournament here on Wednesday, Chief Minister N Biren Singh said,“We’ll be signing the MoU during AIFF chief Kaylan Chaubey’s visit on the closing match of the tournament on February 28.”
Stating that it is indeed very fortunate for the State to host the Hero Tri-Nation International Football Tournament, he appreciated the AIFF chief and his team for acknowledging the potential of Manipuri players and the State’s love of football and also giving the State an opportunity to host this tri-nation football tourney.
It is also a proud moment that the Indian National team has around 6/7 players from our small State, he felt.He also appealed to the people to attend the matches and to show discipline and decency during the tournament.
Manipur had emerged as the football factory of India as it contributed about 43 players in The Indian Super League-men’s professional top tier football league in Indian football league system shows the dominance of the state in the discipline of football.
Wednesday’s opening function of the tri-nation tourney which was marked by colourful performance by different traditional dance groups including the Rhythm of Manipur-the dancing drummers of the state, was attended by ministers Konthoujam Govindas (Youth affairs & Sports), Th Biswajit (Works), Awangbow Newmai (Water Resources), Letpao Haokip (Tribal affairs & hills), Nemcha Kipgen (Commerce & Industries), L Susindro (Consumer affairs), MLAs, former Union Minister and Padmashree Awardee Th Chaoba Singh and others.
Despite an overshadowed sky, the Main Stadium at Khuman Lampak sports complex in Imphal looked full with official attendance recorded to be 29,341 on the opening function followed by a match won by India by 1-0 goal against Myanmar.
For the first time in the history of football, people of Manipur are witnessing the Indian national football team playing with Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan teams in the Hero tri-nation tourney on Manipur soil from March 22-28.The first match was played with Myanmar team on Wednesday while the second match will be played with Kyrgyzstan on March 28.
