A Staff Reporter
DIMAPUR, OCTOBER 13
St. Stephen’s Higher Secondary School, Dimapur has emerged as the champion for the fifth consecutively year since 2001, winning 16 gold, 11 silver and 18 bronze medals in the 15th Nagaland State ITF Taekwon-Do.
Yim’s Taekwon-Do Academy, Dimapur bagged 1st runners-up trophy with 8 gold, 11 silver and 13 bronze medals while Pilgrim School, Dimapur as 2nd runners-up with 6 gold, 7 silver and 3 bronze medals.
The Best Disciplined Team was awarded to Liz-Woodland School, Best Fighter to Paul Zeliang from Chumukidima Taekwon-Do Club, Best Male Player to Tokato Aye of St. Stephen’s Higher Secondary School who won 3 gold and 1silver medals and Shingyieh Y Konyak representing Liz-Wood School and Elita Limnuk Kikon from Pilgrim School were adjudged as best female players.The tournament was held on October 6 and 7 at Indoor State Stadium, Dimapur.
Talking to media, Dr. R Francis, a pioneer and principal of St. Stephen’s Higher Secondary School said, when individuals indulge in games and sports they perform better in studies and lead a more disciplined life. He maintained that though there are more promising players among the Nagas who can compete in international and national levels yet due to lack of proper infrastructure they lag behind others.
While taking an example of Mary Kom who won medal in Olympic, he said, Nagaland too can produce such player if there is little bit of sincerity from the part of State government.
Highlighting the lack of proper stadiums and grounds in Nagaland where one can persuade their sports career, Dr Francis said, “There is international level stadium at Khuman, Lanpak Stadium in Manipur, but we cannot name any such stadium in Nagaland where all the facilities are made available for the upcoming sportsmen”
Dr Francis is of the view that Nagaland can produce world class players in the days to come if full effort is being made by government.
