Posts

Mary Kom gets Khel Ratna; Sarita Arjuna

New Delhi, July 29: For the first time since the inception of the Rajiv Khel Ratna Award in 1991, three sportspersons -- four-time world boxing champion Mangte Chungneijang Marykom, Olympic bronze medallists boxer Vijender Singh and wrestler Sushil Kumar -- will receive the country`s highest sporting honour. Mary will be the second sporstperson from the state to receive the prestigious award after weightlifter Nameirakpam Kunjarani. The only other time more than one sportsperson was bestowed the award was in 2002-03 when shooter Anjali Vedpathak and athlete K.M. Beenamol shared it. Meanwhile, chief minister of Manipur, O Ibobi Singh and his SPF government expressed happiness over the selection of Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award and Laishram Sarita for the Arjuna Award. The chief minister said that four-time world boxing champion May Kom and international player Sarita were really rare and talented players. He expressed his pride at getting the most pr...

Which 'Hockey Manipur' will run the game in Manipur!

Just like in national hockey, the game in Manipur has also been split into two bodies with each of the two 'Hockey Manipur' proclaiming to be the governing body of the state. Manipur Hockey Association (MHA), along with Manipur Women’s Hockey Association (MWHA) had constituted an interim unified body — Hockey Manipur — in a joint meeting on June 28 with MWHA president N Momon Devi as president and Th Manihar Singh as secretary general. However, the Manipur Olympic Association on June 29 formed another ad hoc committee called Hockey Manipur, with MOA vice-president BC Singh as chairman and Olympian Ksh. Thoiba Singh as convenor. The MOA in a statement said an Indian Olympic Association instruction on June 1 had necessitated the move. The Manipur Hockey Association and Manipur Women’s Hockey Association's membership to MOA was also suspended. As Thoiba Singh would understand, the development is not good for the game in the state which has not produced an international in se...

Manipuri in Asian Youth Games

Yumnam Hemjit Meitei was the only Manipuri in the Indian team in the inaugural Asian Youth Games (June 29-July 7) in Singapore. He finished fifth in the 3 metre springboard diving final held on June 30 with 397.70 points. Wu Dongliang of China was first with 626.60 points, Alharbi Rashed of Kuwait second with 474.95, Cho Sung In of South Korea third with 474.05 and Ali Ospan of Kazakhstan fourth with 417.80 points. Hemjit stood fourth in the preliminary rounds. Even though Hemjit could not get a medal his fifth place finish was a laudable effort. Diving has never been a discipline in which India used to excel at the international stage.

Sex workers in Myanmar and HIV/AIDS in Manipur

The news that HIV/AIDS infection in the three hill districts of Manipur bordering Myanmar -- Churachandpur, Chandel and Ukhrul -- is on the increase mainly due to commercial sex workers from that country spreading the dreaded disease should be taken note seriously by the authorities. Myanmar is a country where the incidence of HIV/AIDS is 1.3 per cent of the total population (240,000 out of 47,373,958) while it is 0.3 percent is case of India. Myanmar ranks lowest among countries worldwide in international assistance per capita and among lowest in the world to get antiretroviral treatment access by the patients. Currently, fewer than 20% of HIV-positive people in need of drugs receive them -- either from international groups or in small amounts from the government -- according to a report of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) released in November 2008. More alarming is the fact that an estimated 42 per cent of Myanmarese women in the age group pf 15-49 carry HIV by the end of 2007. So, ne...

No international law can stop Tipaimukh dam: envoy

Dhaka, June 21 : Indian high commissioner Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty has said his country had consulted Bangladesh over the construction of the controversial Tipaimukh dam on the Barak river. He says there is no international law that could stop India from implementing the Tipaimukh dam, perceived to wreak huge environmental disaster on Bangladesh. The envoy has taken a swipe at the BNP-led alliance for opposing against the Bangladesh-India Ganges water-sharing treaty and anti-India comments, which he said were aimed at gaining "political mileage" Chakravarty has trashed the allegation that India is depriving Bangladesh of due share of the Ganges waters as an "empty political slogan". "Recently, there has been a lot of agitation on the question of the Tipaimukh dam. I would like to reiterate that it is a hydro-electric multi-purpose project to produce electricity," Chakravarty said at a seminar on South Asian connectivity at the Sonargaon Hotel on Sunday. ...

North-East could be cradle of civilization

GUWAHATI: Archaeologists and historians have stumbled upon artefacts dating back to the Neolithic Age in Assam's Morigaon and Kamrup districts while investigating the Ahom era canon balls that were recently excavated from Kajolimukh. Experts of the Strategic Research and Analysis Organisation (SRAO), a non-government historic research organisation, are investigating the remains in and around Kajolimukh and Mayong in Morigaon. It was during the excavation work that they found rock engravings, potteries and other relics at Hatishila, about 10 km west of Kajolimukh. The archeaologists feel that the artefacts could belong to the pre-historic period, while some could even belong to the Neolithic Age. "The findings point to the fact that Kajolimukh and Mayong could have been a cradle of human civilization," said Nilim Dutta of SRAO. "Many pre-medieval rock images of Hindu deities and statuettes were found from both the banks of the Kalang River. There should be extensive a...

Mizo push for Barak railway plan

SILCHAR, June 20 : A powerful social organization from Mizoram has extended support to a convention proposed to be held in Silchar, Assam on Sunday demanding immediate implementation of the much-delayed Lumding-Silchar broad gauge project. Young Mizo Association (YMA) members will also take part in the agitations to be chalked out by the Silchar-based Citizens' Forum during the meet. YMA expressed concern over the "inordinate delay" in implementing the broad gauge project, as the 221-km rail link is considered the lifeline for southern Assam, Tripura, Mizoram and parts of Manipur. Sources said this is for the first time a Mizo organization joined hands with its Barak Valley counterpart for the cause of the rail project. Source : Times of India