Dancers at the closing ceremony at Paljor Stadium in Gangtok on Wednesday. Picture by Ashit Rai

Northeast festival

Guwahati, Feb. 28: Manipur emerged overall champions in the Northeast Sports Festival that concluded in Gangtok this afternoon.

Despite finishing third on the medals tally, Manipur bagged the title by virtue of the highest aggregate points. The state tallied 23 gold, 31 silver and 34 bronze.

Hosts Sikkim, who clinch-ed the maximum number of medals (27 gold, 15 silver and 13 bronze), were declared runners-up.

Assam were placed third despite being second on the medals tally with 24 gold, 20 silver and 26 bronze.

In the absence of National Games champions Assam and strong side Manipur, Meghalaya annexed the men’s football title, defeating hosts Sikkim 5-4 via a tiebreaker. The regulation time of the match ended in a 1-1 draw.

On the other hand, Mizoram women annexed the volleyball title, defeating Assam 3-0 in the final this afternoon.

Assam also finished runners-up in the marchpast, where Mizoram bagged gold.