Tura, October 2: “Parents should encourage their children to participate in sports and games from their early age so that they grow up to be fit and productive citizens”, said Chief Minister Dr. Mukul Sangma as he kicked off the final match of the Rongkhon Premier League, 2016 at BTC Playground, Rongkhon, here on Saturday afternoon.
Terming football as the most popular game among the people of the North East, the Chief Minister, however stressed the need to upscale the quality of the game and have such tournaments at various levels so that the State can become a catchment area of football players. He also announced that Mission Football, an initiative of the State Government not only to improve the skill of young football players in the State but also develop facilities and infrastructure required for holding football tournaments, would be launched shortly.
He also called upon the football clubs and other youth organizations to take advantage of the support being given by the Government through the District Sports Promotion Society in all the districts and expressed confidence that by leveraging upon “the strength that we have in sports and our rich cultural heritage we will be able pass on their benefits to our next generations”.
Local MLA & Parliamentary Secretary, Urban Affairs, etc, Noverfield R. Marak , in his brief address, said that the special kind of interest that people of Rongkhon have in various sports activities and music, drew him to collaborate with the people of the area for having such a tournament and also informed the gathering about his plan to have a basketball tournament especially for girls from next year.
The premier league football tournament, which was jointly organized by Rongkhon Premier League Association and Rongkhon Sports Association and sponsored by local MLA Noverfield Marak, drew participation of 16 teams from different localities of Rongkhon area and while eight teams participated in the 35+ football matches.
In the final match, Combined Rongkhon thrashed Real Rongkhon 4 – 1 and emerged the winners of the tournament and in the 35+ category played between Rongkhon Agal and Upper Rongkhon the former beat the latter 5 – 4.
The match was witnessed by a large crowd of people from the area and elsewhere, including the local leaders as well as the senior citizens.
