Manipur emerged overall champion in the 64th National School Games in fencing for Under-14 and 17 years (boys and girls) which concluded at the Khuman Lampak Indoor Stadium here on Saturday.
Host Manipur won 19 medals including 10 gold, 3 silver and 6 bronze medals and secured 97 points.
Manipur secured 55 points and topped in the under 14 boys and girls the while Gujarat bagged second position with 21 points. Similarly, Manipur got 42 points and topped in the under 17 boys and girls category too while Punjab bagged second position with 31 points.
Director Armstrong Pame of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of Manipur along with State officials and representatives of the fencing federation of the country attended the closing function of the 5-day competition this afternoon.
Altogether 860 participants including 730 players representing 19 teams viz. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, CBSE Welfare Sports Organisation, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Indian Public School Conference, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Vidya Bharathi, International Board School Sports Organisation and host Manipur took part in the five days competition.
It may be noted that Chief Minister N Biren Singh, Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Letpao Haokip, Secretary (sports) Bobby Waikhom and Observer of School Games Federation of India, Sanjoy Goutam attended the opening ceremony on November 13.
Under the School Games Federation of India (SGFI), there are over 40 sports disciplines among which 28 disciplines are recognised by the International Olympic Committee and the SGFI cannot conduct the competition in all disciplines in a single State.
Thus every year, School Games Championships are held in different disciplines in different parts of the country. The next venue of the competition will be decided by the national federation in their upcoming meeting in 2019 summer, State sports officials said.
