Shillong, Sep 22: Terrible news came in today of the death of Ibaihun Kurbah after a months-long battle against kidney disease.
Iba, just 20 or 21, was a promising athlete who had represented Meghalaya as a goalkeeper, such as in the Sub-Junior Girls National Football Championship in 2019. She had also kept goal for Lawei SC of Smit in the Shillong Sports Association’s Women’s League.
She was also the U-18 girls Best Athlete at the State Level Chief Minister’s Inter School Athletics Meet in 2022 and the U-14 girls Best Athlete in 2017.
Iba had received her diagnosis earlier this year. After she started to experience unusual tiredness and swelling she underwent several tests and doctors then informed her that her kidneys had failed.
Her family had made an appeal for potential kidney donors last month. At the time Iba was making regular trips from her home in Mairang to Shillong for dialysis.
Her death is a terrible blow to the sporting community in Meghalaya.
Messages of condolence have flooded in from fellow footballers, coaches and members of the public.
“The Meghalaya Football Association is deeply heartbroken by the passing of Ibaihun Kurbah, who left us far too soon. Iba was not only a promising goalkeeper who represented Meghalaya in the Sub-Junior Girls National Football Championship 2019, but also a shining young athlete whose passion, discipline and talent inspired everyone around her,” MFA President Hamletson Dohling said. “Her untimely departure is more than a personal loss, it is a profound blow to the entire sporting community of Meghalaya. Her dreams, spirit and love for sport will always be remembered. The MFA stands in solidarity with Iba’s family, friends and team mates in this time of unimaginable grief. May her soul rest in eternal peace.”
(Video snapshot of Ibaihun Kurbah in 2019)
