Cricket in Arunachal

Fund crunch hits cricket
Itanagar, Jan 1: Cricket in Arunachal Pradesh faces an uphill task, always walking a tightrope on matters of finance.
Established in 1997, the 12-year-long wait was over for the association with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) giving it affiliation recently, but the celebrations that followed were shortlived.
The cash-strapped cricket association that has none other than PWD minister Nabam Tuki as its president, is struggling to acquire funds and get a plot of land to build a stadium of its own.
Lacking even the “bare minimum” infrastructure for cricket in the state, the Arunachal Cricket Association had somehow managed to organise the first edition of the under-17 tournament in 2007 with Rs 5 lakh assistance from chief minister Dorjee Khandu and some donations from well- wishers.
On the basis of organising the tournament held successfully, the BCCI accorded affiliation to the ACA on September 27, 2008.
After getting the BCCI affiliation, however, the Arunachal Cricket Association was unable to raise the necessary funds for the 2nd edition of the under-17 tournament in 2008. The tournament, which was slated for October 15, had to be rescheduled for November 17 onwards because of funds constraint.
According to the association, it had managed to hold the second edition, too, as a low-key affair without any sponsorship where only a few teams participated.
“The tournament was quite a success and it generated a good response, but our anxieties are far from over. We are finding it difficult to find a plot of land to build our own stadium,” Arunachal Cricket Association secretary Tado Kholi said.
“Indira Gandhi Park, the venue of the 2007 tournament, was in a bad shape bearing the brunt of government programmes and cultural shows that were organised there. We had to incur extra expenditure in sprucing up the ground, besides paying the forest department, which maintains the ground, Rs 1,000 per day for holding the tournament. Somehow, we organised the tournament with a budget of Rs 4 lakh,” Kholi said.
“But this year, even after fixing the schedule for the tournament, we were still groping in the dark because of lack of funds,” Kholi said.
Though talks are on to find a plot of land in Jully or Doimukh area, unless the formalities are cleared nothing can be said, he added.
The association’s secretary said even after knocking on the door of sports minister Atum Welly for allotment of land for a cricket ground, he only got a verbal assurance.
Source: The Telegraph

Snippets

Oil India storm into I-Day Cup final
Nagaon, Jan 1: Oil India Football Club, Duliajan entered the final of 60th Independence Day Cup football tournament defeating Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) Sports Club, Guwahati 4-0 in the second semi-final match at Nowgong Sports Association’s Nurul Amin Stadium here today.
Oil India maintained their good run in the tournament with another impressive show today, outplaying the fancied ASEB to earn a comprehensive victory.
Striker Bhupen Gogoi scored the first two goals in the 29th and 44th minutes of the game, while midfielder Stephen Njoh scored the third goal in the 58th minute.
Manas M. Chetia scored the last goal for Oil India during injury time.
Oil India will now meet last year’s runners-up BSF, Jalandhar in the final on Saturday.

Imphal West triumph
Imphal: Imphal West District Football Association claimed the title of the 11th Inter District Women's Football tournament with a come-from-behind 2-1 win and making it 7-1 aggregate victory in the double-leg competition at Khuman Lampak main Stadium on Wednesday.
Even though the Imphal East eves side surged ahead on Ng Bala's seventh minute score the arch rivals equalised through Th Tababi in the 33rd as O Bembem converted a penalty in the 56th minute to ensure the title win.

Junior National Football at Bhillai

Results of Group A QF league matches on Jan 2: Manipur beat Meghalaya 2-0; Punjab drew Gujarat 0-0
Results of Group B QF league matches on Jan 1: Jharkhand beat Chandigarh 2-0; Delhi beat Uttar Pradesh 2-1
Results of Group A QF league matches on Dec 31: Meghalaya beat Punjab 1-0; Manipur beat Gujarat 5-0
Results of matches on Dec 30: Cluster III: Bengal 3 Tamilnadu 0; Cluster VII: Delhi 4 Madhya Pradesh 0