Shillong, Mar 19: Meghalaya earned their first two gold medals at the 3rd North East Games in Nagaland today, both of which came in the track events.
Two bronze medals were also earned by Meghalaya’s women runners and there was also a bronze in pencak silat, a martial art form.
The 3rd NEG (renamed from the North East Olympic Games) had its opening ceremony yesterday but the actual competitions began today.
According to the Meghalaya State Olympic Association, the team of Kyrshanlang Shylla, Donbok Shabong, Repol Dkhar and Skhemlang Suba won gold in the 4x400m men’s relay race.
Skhemlang also took gold in the men’s 1500m race, while Glorify Kurbah bagged bronze in the corresponding women’s event.
Glorify was also part of the team that earned bronze in the 4x400m women’s relay race final today.
The other medal for Meghalaya today was claimed by Yuvraj D Sangma in pencak silat, a martial art form from Indonesia that is debuting at these Games.
In boxing, Meghalaya are guaranteed several medals as six pugilists reached the men’s semifinal round. These are Sanjeev Maskut (48kg), Ram Lyngdoh (60kg), Bhalang Shadap (67kg), Khrawbok Marwein (51kg), Banjop Nongkhlaw (54kg) and Sunil Lambu (57kg).
Table tennis also saw the Meghalaya men’s and women’s teams qualify for the semifinals.
In basketball, Meghalaya had success in both the women’s and men’s competitions. The women’s team defeated Assam 66-36, while the men were victorious over Tripura 90-53.
There were a few pieces of bad news, unfortunately, chief among them in football where Meghalaya were defeated 2-1 by Arunachal Pradesh.
In the badminton team events, Meghalaya lost to Assam in the men’s and to Nagaland in the women’s categories.
Meghalaya also lost to Manipur in volleyball today.
(Photo contributed of the medal winning runners)
