Shillong, Jun 2: The National Games 2022 organising committee, comprising Meghalaya State Olympic Association (MSOA) Working President John Kharshiing, Sports & Youth Affairs Director Matsiewdor War Nongbri and MSOA General Secretary Chiranjib Choudhury, submitted its first presentation before the executive council meeting of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) in New Delhi today.
In a press release Kharshiing said that the IOA was “impressed and in agreement with the progress and compliance” taken by the Meghalaya government as per the host city contract, which was signed in Shillong five months ago, and “thanked the stakeholders for their commitment towards making the games a success”.
However, the executive council did raise some issues and concerns, including infrastructure, hospitality, airport connectivity and the need to have landing facilities for larger aircraft in Meghalaya.
The meeting of the IOA’s executive council was chaired by IOA President Narinder Batra in the presence of IOA Secretary General Rajeev Mehta and other top officials.
The executive council also reviewed presentations on preparations for the upcoming 36th Goa, 37th Chhatisgarh and 38th Uttarakhand National Games from the respective state officials.
2022 will mark Meghalaya’s 50th birthday and India’s 75th. Only two other North East states have ever hosted the National Games – Manipur (1999) and Assam (2007).
Although Meghalaya did pull off its role as a co-host at 2016’s South Asian Games, there were only a handful of disciplines held in Shillong and their selection was partly based on the infrastructure already present in the city.
The National Games will be on an order of magnitude far greater and there have been several cases of states being unable to host the event in the scheduled year.
The central government will provide only 30 percent of the total Games’ budget, with Meghalaya having to source the remaining 70 percent.
(TSR file photo from the signing of the host city contract)
