The entire subdivision literally thronged at the Town hall as Nagar Panchayat and 35 other organisations jointly falicitated their ‘girl down the lane’ Saraswati who made their subdivision, in fact the entire country, proud by lifting 400m Gold at the Busan Asiad earlier this year. Belonia was, in fact, preparing from the day the TV channels broke the news that Saraswati blazed on the 400 metres track with flying colours.

When Nagar Panchayat chairman Dipankar Sen put a Gold Crown on Saraswati, everyone present in the twon hall stood up clapping. Several hundreds who were ‘stranded’ outside, broke into dance.

Saraswati, came to the venue accompnaied by her husband Amit Saha, himself a long jumper. She became nostalgic when she spoke about her early days in Belonia fields. She assured that if the State Government wanted her help in regards to development of sports, she would be happy to extend her helping hand. Saraswati said, right at this moment she is preparing all out for the next Olympic, She sounded confident that in the Olympic arena also she would shine bright. Saraswati dwelt on the sharp contrast between Europe, America and India in respect to sports infrastructure and talent development.

The programme was attended by PWD minister Badal Choudhury, MLA Basudev Majumdar, SDM Pramath Ranjan Bhattacharjee besides relatives of Saraswati.The State Government also felicitated Saraswati in a colourful programme at Rabindra Shata Barshiki Bhawan.

Hamara Manipuri Kom gets International boxing gold

MC Mary Kom has made Manipur proud winning the international boxing gold. Her name will be written in golden letter in Manipur’s sports history as the first local lass to win gold at an international meet Kom got her gold at the 2nd World Women’s Boxing Championship held at Antalia in Turkey. Had luck smiled
on her, this girl from Kangathel village (Churachandpur district) could have brought the gold home last year itself from the first edition of the international boxing championship for women held at Pennsylvania, USA. Luck was not on her side and she had to settle for the silver at the prestigious tournament.

Governor, State Government, Kom Rem Students’ Union and other well wishers congratulated her. Mary Kom is the first daughter of M Tonpa Kom and M Akham Kom. From her early childhood, she showed keen interest in games and sports. She first took up athletics but sensing that she won’t be able to make it to the national and international level she moved over to boxing.

After just a year of hard work, determination and encouragement from her coach, Mary Kom made her mark at the state and national level and collected several gold medals in her category.

The first gold to come Kom way was 1st State Level Invitation Boxing Championship organised by Women Amateur Boxing Association of Manipur in the year 2000. She also won the Best Boxer title in the championship. In the same year Mary Kom won the gold in the 7th East India Women’s Boxing Championship held in West Bengal. She also won gold medals in 1st and 2nd national Women Boxing Championship held at Chennai and New Delhi in 2001 and 2002 respectively.

At the international level, she has won silver medal in the First Women World Boxing Championship held at Pennsylvania USA in 2001. She also won gold in the International Tournament Training, Pees, Hungary.
She participated in the 1st Asian Women Boxing Championship held at Bangkok last year. However, she could not make it to win a medal. She is eyeing for gold in Asian Games and the Olympics.

Now a word about the Kom Rems, the tribe Mary Kom belongs to. They are one of the indigenous people of Manipur. They have been living in Manipur for more than 2000 years. They are akin to other indigenous people of Manipur as well as in Assam and Tripura such as Bete, Hrangkhawl, Darlong, Chakeepap, Inpui, Nambashi and other cognate tribes.

According to the folk tales and tradition, Kom Rems originally hailed from Magnolia and settled in these parts while passing through China and Burma.