Hemjit finishes fifth 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.

Suranjoy Singh

Football's loss is boxing's gain

New Delhi, June 16: Suranjoy Singh could have gone the Rennedy Singh way but football's loss turned out to be boxing's gain as the Manipuri pugilist went on to end India's 15-year wait for a gold medal at the Asian Championships.

The 22-year-old wanted to make it big as a footballer like his famous state-mate but his elder brother Suranjit - a former boxer himself - motivated him to take up boxing after a frustrating wait to make it to national level football.

The transition, however, was not easy as it was initially unacceptable to his family."I was into football and seriously thought of a career in it because the game is huge in Manipur but not getting a national break frustrated me," Suranjoy told PTI.

"My brother introduced me to boxing at that point and it was he who made me realise that success in an individual sport would fetch me a lot more recognition and satisfaction. After giving it a thought, I realised that he was right because I would have been probably lost in a team sport like football," the diminutive fly weight (51kg) boxer added.

The Navy man said once he made up his mind to take up boxing, he found it hard to convince his parents.

Source: Press Trust of India

Mary Kom Exploits

Manipuri gets 4th consecutive World Championship gold

Ningbo City (China), Nov 29: India's M C Mary Kom (46kg) re-asserted her status as the world's most successful woman boxer clinching an unprecedented fourth successive gold medal but India failed to retain the team crown at the fifth AIBA World Championships here on Saturday.

In a repeat of the previous World Championship final in New Delhi, the 25-year-old out-punched Romania's Steluta Duta 7-1 to grab India's only gold medal at the event.

The other Indian finalist, N Usha (57kg) had to be content with a silver for the second successive time after she lost 1-6 to Chinese Qin Jian.

The defending champions, who were here with a small seven-member contingent, thus finished the tournament with a haul of one gold, a silver and two bronze medals -- through Chhoto Laura (50kg) and L Sarita Devi (52kg), who lost in the semifinals yesterday.

Though she couldn't ensure that the team retained the overall title, Mary Kom was once again the star of the show for India.

The Manipuri boxer remained away from the ring for two years to take care of her twin babies after completing a hat-trick of World Championship golds in New Delhi.

The pint-sized pugilist returned to don the gloves this year at the Asian Championships in September where she failed to retain her gold and settled for a silver.

She claimed the National title earlier this month before leaving for the World Championship to achieve the spectacular feat.

Pride of Manipur

Manipuri lifter Monika Devi selected for Beijing Olympics

New Delhi, July 15: Manipuri weightlifter L Monika Devi was today unanimously chosen ahead of Shailaja Pujari to represent the country in the Beijing Olympic Games after a selection trial in Bangalore, bringing to an end a selection controversy and allegations of bribery.

Monika, who won a silver and two bronze in the Asian Championship in Japan in April-May to help book the lone berth for India, will compete in the 69kg category while Shailaja (75kg) would be the reserve lifter.

"Monika was chosen for the Olympics by an unanimous decision of the Selection Committee. I am happy that everything went off smoothly during the trials," Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) President Harbhajan Singh said.

"Dev Dutt Sharma will accompany Monika as coach in Beijing," he added.

Monika and Shailaja were shortlisted for the final selection after an earlier trial in Pune on June 29 was followed by allegations of bribery on IWF General Secreatry B R Gulati to select Shailaja. Gulati had rubbished the allegations as "baseless".

Shailaja was also alleged to have used kneeguards, which were not permitted under IWF rules, in the Pune trial. This led to the Sports Ministry ordering probe into the bribery scandal and asking to cancel the trials besides directing to shift the trial venue from Pune to NIS, Patiala.

IWF stuck to its guns on the repeat selection trials though it shifted the venue of trial to SAI Centre, Bangalore.

Sharma's selection as coach was also against Ministry directive that a woman coach should accompany a woman lifter in Beijing.

Source: Press Trust of India

Other Stories:
Monika gets the nod
IWF selects Monika ahead of Shailaja

AFC U-13 Girls Football Festival

Six from NE in 22-member Indian squad:
New Delhi: Five Manipuris and one from Tripura have been selected to represent India in the AFC Under 13 Girls Football Festival to be held in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam from June 23 to 27.
The Manipuri players are Elangbam Panthoi Chanu (Goalkeeper), W Linthoingambi Devi (Defender), T Ranjita Devi (Defender), H Sunita Devi (Defender), Th Purnima Devi (Defender) while Mampi Bhowmick (Forward) is from Tripura.
Former player RK Amusana Devi from Manipur will be the deputy coach.
Myanmar, Japan, Singapore, Korea Republic, China and hosts Vietnam are the other participating countries in the festival.
Full squad:
Goalkeeper: Elangbam Panthoi Chanu (Manipur)
Defenders: W Linthoingambi Devi (Manipur), T Ranjita Devi (Manipur), H Sunita Devi (Manipur), Th Purnima Devi (Manipur), Sithara Hari Kumar (Kerala), SK Alivia (Karnataka), Varalakshmi Mani (Puducherry)
Midfielders: Tanvi Bhargava (Chandigarh), Masuka Somesh (Karnataka), Raksha Pawar (Uttarakhand), Salma Fernandes (Goa), Subhaprabha Rout (Orissa), Sangeetha Viagulasamy (Puducherry), Viswa Kirti Patel (Gujarat)
Forwards: Josline D Souza (Goa), Preeti Shinde (Goa), Luica Gracy Simoes (Goa), Karishma Oram (Orissa), Veerpal Kaur Bawa (Punjab), Mampi Bhowmick (Tripura), Kanmozhi Muthukrishanan (Tamil Nadu).
Chief Coach: Shukla Dutta
Coach: RK Amusana Devi

Ticket to Beijing

Manipuri woman judoka earns Olympic berth:
New Delhi, May 31: Commonwealth champion Kh Tombi Devi and Diviya will represent India at the Beijing Olympics, the Judo Union of Asia said today.
Kh Tombi Devi, who qualified in the 48 kg category, and Diviya (78 kg) earned their Olympic berths as per the points they received in the Asian Judo Championships.
Kh Tombi Devi is from Manipur and is presently working with the CRPF. She won the Gold medal in the Commonwealth Judo Championship in January this year. She also bagged the bronze in the Asian Judo Championships held in Kuwait last year.
The Judo Federation of India is sending them for training to Uzbekistan along with coach Armen Bagdasarove.
Source: United News of India (UNI)

India vs Chinese Taipei Friendly

Four Manipuris in India first XI:

Irungbam Surkumar Singh, Moirangthem Gourmangi Singh, Bungo Singh and Potsangbam Renedy Singh took the field in India's second and final friendly match against Chinese Taipei on May 27 in the run up to the June 3-14 SAFF Cup in Maldives and Sri Lanka.

The match ended 2-2 draw.
N. P. Pradeep scored both the goals for India in the .

In the first friendly against the same opponents on May 24, there were five Manipuris with young striker Sushil Kumar Singh taking field along with Surkumar, Gouramangi, Bungo and Renedy.

India Squad on May 27: Subrata Pal, Mahesh Gawli, Surkumar Singh, Gourmangi Singh, Deepak Kumar Mondal, Bungo Singh, N.P. Pradeep, Renedy Singh, Climax Lawrence, Sunil Chhettri, Bhaichung Bhutia (captain).

India squad on May 24: Subrata Pal, Mahesh Gawli, Surkumar Singh (66' Nanjangud Shivnanju Manju), Gourmangi Singh, Deepak Kumar Mondal, Bungo Singh, N. P. Pradeep, Renedy Singh, Climax Lawrence (77' Sampath Kumar Kuttimani), Sunil Chhettri, Bhaichung Bhutia (71' Sushil Kumar Singh).

Mohun Bagan vs Bayern Munich

Four NE players rub shoulders with Oliver Kahn:

Two Mizos and two Manipuris had the opportunity to play against legendary German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn in his last competitive match on May 27 at Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.
Lukram James Singh, Sagolsem James Singh, Henry Gangte and Pachau Lalam Puia donned Mohun Bagan colours in their match against the famous Bundesliga side Bayern Munich.
In the first half, Sagolsem James Singh wasted an easy chance off the corner kick of Lal Kamal Bhowmick and Lalam Puia shot straight into Kahn a minute before the breather. Bayern won the match 3-0 and Kahn was given a standing ovation by more than a lakh crowd when he left the field after being substituted in the 56th minute.
Mohun Bagan skipper Baichung Bhutia missed the match and the Sikkimese sniper was playing as captain for India against Chinese Taipei in an international friendly in Chennai today (May 27).
Mohun Bagan: Sangram Mukherjee (90' Chirodeep Chattopadhyay), Rahul Kumar, Rakesh Masih, Anand Vasim, Habibur Rehman Mondal (71' S Naveen Kumar), Lal Kamal Bhowmick, Sielphaw Henry Gangte (60' Tapan Maity), Sagolsem James Singh, Lukram James Singh, Ishfaq Ahmed, Pachau Lalam Puia (64' Branco Vincent Cardozo).
Bayern Munich: Oliver Kahn (56' Michael Rensing), Christian Lell, Andreas Ottl, Breno, Uwe Schlottner (82' Diego Pizarro), Mark Van Bommel, Ze Roberto (77' Taygun Kuru), Viktor Bopp (68' Gianluca Simari), Toni Kroos (74' Dominik Rohracker), Jose Ernesto Sosa (Diego Contento), Jan Schlaudraff
Yellow Cards: Sangram Mukherjee (36' Mohun Bagan) and Jan Schlaudraff (76' Bayern Munich)Red Cards: Branco Vincent Cardozo (84' Mohun Bagan) and Breno (84' Bayern Munich) Attendance: 1,20,000

Asian Shooting Championship

Manipuri girl shoots gold:

Imphal: Manipur shooter N Saini Devi bagged a gold in the 50-metre Junior Women’s Rifle Prone team event in the Asian Shooting Championship held in Kuwait recently.

Saini Devi scored 582 points. Indian team (Saini, Lajja Goswami and Annu Tomar) won silver junior women in the 50-metre Sports Rifle 3 Position event also.

Source: The Telegraph

Manipur Sports News

Shooting Medal:

Nov 3: T Aruna Devi became the second Manipuri to win a medal in the 17th All India GV Mavlankar Shooting Championship which concluded at Agra on Nov 2.

After H Sanahal Singh clinched gold in .177 peep sight air rifle 10 metre individual event earlier in the competition, Aruna added the second medal with a total of 529 points out of 600 in the 50 metre small bore sports rifle three position event, according to Manipur Rifle Association.


Churachandpur girl wins gold in Asian Weightlifting:

Nov 3: The Kom Rem Students' Union has congratulated Hmangte Parneichong Kom

of Khonomphai village in Churachandpur district for her gold medal winning performance in the recently held Asian Weightlifting Championship at Amman (Jordan).

Parneichong competed in the 69 kg class and claimed three gold medals with lifts of 75 kg in snatch and 95 kg in clean and jerk.

The Union will accord a warm welcome on her arrival at Tulihal Airport for which all the Kom Rem people are urged to join the reception ceremony.

Source: The Sangai Express