Govt felicitates under-17 Subroto Cup champion

Meghalaya Sports and Youth Affairs minister Zenith M Sangma along with principal secretary P Kharkongor and other official during the felicitation ceremony of Subroto Cup under -17 football champion 2013 OM Roy Memorial Higher Secondary School at Yojana Bhavan on Friday.

SHILLONG, OCT 25: Meghalaya Sports and Youth Affairs minister Zenith M Sangma felicitated the winners of National Subroto Cup Football Tournament under 17 years boys – O M Roy Memorial Higher Secondary School- at Yojana Bhavan auditorium on Friday. The players were felicitated with the presentation of shawls and the team a cheque of Rs, 2 lakh from the state government. The felicitation was organized by the Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs.

Sangma congratulated the young players of OM Memorial Secondary School for winning the prestigious Subroto Cup 2013 for under 17 Boys Football Tournament after a gap of 14 years. He encouraged the boys to utilize their gifted talent with determination, self discipline and in the right direction. Sangma reiterated that with their ability they should go beyond the boundaries of our country and ceaseless effort and hard work is needed for achieving this desired goal. He also urged them to be positive, constructive and responsible citizens in future.

Inspite of the fact that football is the popular game of the state and the youth are doing excellent in this field, Sangma lamented that there are various constraints and inadequate infrastructure which is not supporting the players. For this reason the state government is creating more avenues by creating more infrastructures and there will be one Sports Complex comprising of outdoor, indoor stadium and other infrastructure in every block in rural areas within this current financial year, he informed.

Besides this, the government has initiated to create big football stadiums with FIFA norms in different parts of the state and funds has already been earmarked by the Ministry of DONER for setting up stadiums in Tura and Ampati having the capacity of accommodating 20,000 spectators. Apart from these, a master plan has been prepared for Football Stadium of International Standard which can accommodate 40,000 to 50,000 spectators in Shillong, Sangma added.

Others who spoke on the occasion are P Kharkongor, principal secretary, Sports & Youth Affairs department, FR Kharkongor, secretary, Sports & Youth Affairs department A Syiemlieh, principal, OM Memorial Secondary School, Mawlai, F Pariat, general secretary, Meghalaya Athletic Association, SS Rapthap, general secretary, Meghalaya Football Association in the presence of Sports and Youth Affairs director FM Dopth and deputy director JR Marak.- By Our Reporter