The cadets of three Sainik Schools (Imphal, Goalpara and Purulia) take oath at the East Zone Inter-Sainik Schools sports championship held at Sainik School, Imphal complex, on Saturday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Imphal, July 29: The Imphal branch of Sainik School started off with a bang beating their counterparts from Goalpara and Purulia in football and basketball respectively on the opening day of the East Zone Sainik School sports and co-curricular activities championship held in Pangei on Saturday.

The three-day championship will have football, volleyball and basketball, among other sport. Altogether 50 participants each from Sainik School, Purulia in West Bengal, Goalpara in Assam and Manipur, are taking part in the championship.

In the inaugural football match, Manipur junior boys beat Goalpara 5-0 and in basketball, host team sub-junior boys defeated Purulia by a huge margin of 60-15 points.

Education minister L. Jay-antakumar, while inaugurating the championship, annou-nced that the state governme-nt has sanctioned Rs 2 crore for the development of infrastructure of Sainik School, Imphal.

He further added that scholarships for the students would be looked into at the earliest. Kakching MLA Y. Surchandra attended the opening session.

Hockey convenor

Manipur Hockey Association secretary Th. Manihar Singh has been chosen as the convenor of the technical committee of the North East Youth Hockey Development Committee. The newly established committee was set up in Guwahati on July 25 comprising representatives from the region’s hockey associations.

Assam Hockey Association secretary Tapan Kumar Das will be the convenor of the committee, while all northeastern chief ministers would be made patron members.

In addition, a technical committee has also been constituted with L. Siangte from Mizoram as chairman and Th. Manihar Singh of Manipur as convenor.

According to an understanding arrived at the meeting, a two-year hockey development project will be taken up focussing on training players, holding championships, umpire clinics and acquiring new equipment.

The project aims to enable hockey teams from the northeastern states, including Sikkim, to compete at the national and international level.

Manipur representative Th. Manihar said as a launch pad, a hockey competition will be held in Guwahati in September this year.