Players and coaches in Manipur demand ‘One Game One Body’ for hockey

IMPHAL — Expressing concern over the existence of multiple state hockey bodies and its adverse impact on players, the All Manipur Hockey United Club (AMHUC) on Tuesday staged a sit-in protest under the banner ‘Save Hockey in Manipur’, demanding the implementation of “One Game One Body” as instructed by the Indian Olympic Association.

Holding placards that read ‘1 Game 1 Body’, ‘Support Hockey Players, Free Them from Harassments’, and ‘Save Hockey in Manipur’, many players, coaches, and officials representing all hockey clubs of the state took part in the sit-in demonstration held at the northern block of the Khuman Lampak Sports Complex in Imphal.

Manipur, once a proud contributor to India’s national hockey teams, has had no representation in recent years, a historic shame for both the sport and the state, said AMHUC in a memorandum submitted to the governor.

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Among the 19 Olympians produced by Manipur since the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, hockey has the maximum number of representatives. They are P Nilakomol (Los Angeles 1984), Ksh Thoiba (Seoul 1988), Kh Kothajit (London 2012), K Chinglensana (Brazil 2016), Sh Nilakanta (Tokyo 2016), Th Anuradha (Brazil 2016), and P Sushila (Brazil 2016).

“Local hockey clubs, the very lifeblood of the sport, are dying out without any form of support, including basic infrastructure, casualties of the poisonous feud between the two rival (hockey) bodies and of state neglect,” it stated.

The memorandum urged the governor to resolve the dispute between the two hockey bodies by constituting an ad hoc committee for Manipur, duly approved by Hockey India and the Indian Olympic Association, to govern the discipline until the crisis is resolved.