Our Correspondent
Kohima, July 8 (EMN): The Nagaland Olympic Association (NOA) on Friday informed that Nagaland Olympic & Paralympic Games 2022 will be held from August 22 to 27 with Kohima as the main host.
This was disclosed by Secretary-General NOA, Abu Metha, in a press briefing after the association’s annual general meeting held at Chekrovolu Swuro Hall of Motivation, NOA complex.
While the majority of sports disciplines will be held in Kohima some will be played in Dimapur. Some disciplines will begin ahead of the opening day. All 16 districts of Nagaland will participate in the State's biggest ever sporting event.
The disciplines in which competitions will be held are archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, football, taekwondo, table tennis, wushu, tennis (Dimapur), shooting sports (Dimapur), the NOA secretary-general informed.
Metha said the disciplines have been chosen on the basis of the disciplines that will be played at the North East Olympics, scheduled for September in Shillong.
He said other factors that determined the selection of disciplines are infrastructure, logistics, availability of accommodation facilities and resources. Nagaland will participate in the forthcoming North East Olympic Games.
For the first time, Para Sports events will be held. The Para-Sports events will be demonstration sports and not based on inter-district competitions, Metha informed.
Meanwhile, chief minister, Neiphiu Rio, who is also the president of NOA, officially launched the association’s website on Thursday. The NOA would also develop its own mobile phone application soon, Metha said.
Giving further update on the outcome of the meeting, Metha said the NOA has also taken several steps toward streamlining the sports associations so that all associations will function in an efficient and professional manner ensuring best practices and maintaining minimum standards.
Transparency in functioning, regular conduct of AGMs, adherence to the Olympic ideals and regular conduct of sports meets along with participation in regional and national meets have been made mandatory. He also added that sports can longer be approached as a hobby but must be developed as a science.
The Nagaland Olympic Association has also instituted the Athletes Commission during the annual general meeting. The Commission will be chaired by Arjuna Awardee and Olympian Chekrovolü Swüro.
The association also deliberated on matters pertaining to Anti-doping measures, age manipulation and over-age sportspersons and training methods for athletes. He also informed that an anti-doping committee would soon be introduced.
The NOA further adopted a resolution to bid for hosting future editions of the National Games. This proposal will be submitted to the Government of Nagaland by the NOA in order to seek the support and mandate of the State Government to successfully achieve this aspiration, he added.