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The men’s senior doubles final match in progress between Manipur, in black, and Mizoram at the DDBA Indoor Stadium, United Colony (Nagarjan) in Dimapur, on Sat. Oct. 13. (EM Images/ Caisii Mao)[/caption]
Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, Oct. 13: The Northeast zone inter-state badminton championship concluded on Sat. Oct. 13 with the chief minister of Nagaland, Neiphiu Rio attending the closing ceremony conducted at the Dimapur District Badminton Association (DDBA) Indoor Stadium, United Colony (Nagarjan) in Dimapur.
During his address, Rio congratulated the Nagaland Badminton Association for successfully hosting the tournament. Also, he congratulated the participants from all the eight Northeast states for making the tournament a successful event.
Earlier, men’s doubles final match between Manipur and Mizoram was played in the presence of the chief minister. Manipur was represented by L Unikumar Singh and O Aimson Singh, while Mizoram was represented by M Joseph and L Lalduhawma.
The first set witnessed a neck to neck battle between the two teams with Manipur pair going ahead by two points at 14-12. The points drew level at 16-16 after which the Manipur pair won three points on the trot to make it 19-16. Mizoram clawed their way back to make it 19-18 but the Manipur pair won the next two points closing the first set 21-18.
In the second set, Mizoram came back with better game plan and went for the mid-game interval 11-5. The Manipur pair tried hard to get back into the game and came close to level at 19-17. However, Mizoram won the next two points to clinch the second set with the score 21-17.
With it the match went to a decider during which the game saw a neck to neck battle. The Manipur pair led the points till the mid-game interval at 11-9. However, after the intermission, the Mizoram players levelled the score 11-11 and went ahead leading the set 18-15. They won the next two points to make it 20-15 with five match points in their favour. Manipur refused to relent and clawed their way back upto 20-18 but O Aimson Singh missed the next serve handing the men’s doubles championship to Mizoram.
The match was followed by prize distribution ceremony during which the chief minister, Neiphiu Rio gave away the awards to all the winners in junior and senior categories.
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Neiphiu Rio giving away the prize to Assam, winner of senior mixed team event, during the prize distribution ceremony at the DDBA Indoor Stadium in Dimapur on Sat. Oct. 13. [/caption]
