Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio said the state government will soon roll out a sports policy wherein various sporting disciplines suitable to the people of the state will be identified and promoted.
He said the new sports policy will enable the players of the state to be at par with national and international level sportspersons. In this connection, he sought the support of the Centre.
Rio said this while speaking at the closing function of the NE-Zone Inter-State Badminton Championship, organised by the Nagaland Badminton Association at Dimapur District Badminton Association indoor stadium on Saturday evening.
The chief minister, who was the chief host of the event, said even though Nagaland is the second senior-most state after Assam in the Northeast, the Nagaland Olympic Association could get affiliated to the Indian Olympic Association in 2004 after 41 years of statehood even as independent India’s first football captain to the 1948 Olympics was Dr T Ao, a renowned Naga.
He said Nagaland participated in the 33rd National Games held in February 2007 in Guwahati for the first time and won 11 medals, including 1 gold. He, however, rued that in subsequent years, the state’s performance has declined.
Rio stated that in any profession and especially in sports, one has to be fit, disciplined, hard working with dedication, determination and consistency and make sacrifices to achieve dreams and goals.
Highlighting that the north eastern region has huge inborn talents and potential, he said there is a lack in adequate infrastructure and training facilities due to which the potential of the youth could not be explored fully.
He hoped that the states of the region would continue to be in the news for good reasons.
“Sports bring people together and so we should learn from one another and help each other so that we can build a good image. We should make the state, the Northeast and India proud,” Rio added.