Shillong, Mar 25: Several of Meghalaya’s best athletes were unavailable for the 3rd North East Games, which recently concluded in Nagaland, due to having exams or for other reasons, the Meghalaya State Olympic Association said yesterday.
Meghalaya had a rather poor showing at the multidisciplinary event, finishing only seventh out of the eight states with just 2 gold medals.
MSOA General Secretary Finely Pariat made much of the fact that Meghalaya, with 12 silver and 41 bronze medals also, accumulated more podium places (55) to even fifth-placed Arunachal Pradesh (47) or sixth-placed Sikkim (31). However, that’s not how rankings in medals tables are worked out and it is the lack of gold that dragged Meghalaya down.
A much longer explanation for the lack of success was provided by MSOA Working President John F Kharshiing. He, like Pariat, mentioned that many of the state’s best athletes were not able to take part due to other commitments.
Other factors at play, which TSR has previously delved into here, include a change in the types of disciplines held this year compared to 2022 (when Meghalaya won 36 gold) and reduction in overall number of events. Some of the sports held this year were relatively unknown in Meghalaya and the state had to hurriedly put together contingents.
Kharshiing congratulated all the Meghalaya athletes, especially the medallists.
“While we could have done better, the 3rd North East games and similar sporting events are opportunities for us to continue to learn from the challenges in team preparation and reaching the podium finish,” he added. “We will introspect and review with all the 14 sports associations to discuss strategies and policies in improving our medal performances.”
Calling for patience on the part of sports fans, he repeated the old chestnut that it takes 10,000 hours to make a champion. Consistent and “strong” funding for development programmes and major event team preparation were also spoken about by Kharshiing and he also mentioned sports in schools, scholarships, cash awards, talent identification, etc.
The North East Sports Association, of which Kharshiing is the Secretary General, will discuss the timing of future Games (to avoid clashing with exams) and on whether a minimum number of Olympic discplines should be prescribed for future editions.
“It is obvious that we can win medals. We need to understand that there is a need for a strong youth development programme for athletes to prepare them for the senior level. It’s not easy,” Kharshiing said. “We look forward to increasing support in grant-in-aid from the state government in the team preparation budgets so as to provide the best support system for athletes.”
In any other organisation such a dismal performance might be cause for wholesale changes to the system but it’s unlikely that there will be any radical change in the MSOA’s functioning.
(File photo)
