Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 10 Aug: Meghalaya will host the second edition of the North East Olympic Games, 2022 at Shillong from 30 October to 6 November this year.
The Games will feature 18 Olympic sports disciplines-archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, football, judo, karate, shooting, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, wushu, cycling, golf, weightlifting and wrestling.
This was decided in a meeting of the Games’ organizing committee and the North East Olympic Association (NEOA) in Shillong on Wednesday, NEOA secretary-general Abraham K Techi said.
The events will be held in 13 venues.
Sportsperson from all the eight Northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and host Meghalaya, will participate in the 8-day event.
“The sports disciplines have been chosen based on the availability of infrastructure and as per the advice of the Meghalaya State Olympic Association,” said Meghalaya sports minister Banteidor Lyngdoh.
“While union youth affairs and sports minister Anurag Thakur has already been invited to attend the opening ceremony of the Games, the DoNER minister, the chief ministers and union ministers from the North East states will also be invited,” Lyngdoh said.
The organizing committee has also accepted the proposal by Techi to invite top athletes from the North East, who won medals in the Tokyo 2020 and the recent Commonwealth Games 2022.
North East Olympic Association president Th Radheshyam expressed the hope that the Games will not only provide the sportspersons of the region an opportunity to show their talents, but also promote unity and build understanding among the youths of the North East.
Meghalaya sports and youth affairs commissioner Dr Vijay Kumar D stated that all preparations for the Games are going on in full-swing.
Later, NEOA president Th Radheshyam and secretary-general Techi formally handed over the official flag of the North East Olympic Association to Meghalaya sport minister Lyngdoh, who then officially handed it over to Meghalaya State Olympic Association working president John F Kharshiing.
