Kumari Devi has once again made Manipur as well as the entire North-Eastern region proud when she was named captain of the Indian women football team for the on-going Bangkok Asian Games by the All India Football Federation.Kumari is a natural leader and we strongly believe that her leadership quality will help the Indian women perform better in the Asiad, reveal AIFF sources. The sources further informed that Kumari was the unanimous contender for captaincy.

While her well wishers always felt that the Manipuri lass should lead the squad, Kumari herself was unpurturbed. When asked by this correspondent about her chances of becoming the Indian captain in Patiala recently, Kumari promptly replied that her first aim was to represent the national team and play well. "Captaincy is not a great deal. Football is a team game and thus the role of a captain is limited. Yes, captaincy is a great honour, but for the team’s success it is important that everyone should contribute her 100 per cent. Now I am preparing myself to be fully fit and give my best for the country. The thought of captaincy is no where in my mind," she said assertively.

Leading a side is not a new thing for this defender from Manipur. She was the captain of the victorious Manipur team which lifted the Federation Cup, a mark of supremacy in India’s women football, in Calcutta early this year. As a captain her performance can be judged by the fact that despite playing in front of a 30-thousand strong partisan crowd in Calcutta, under the able leadership of Kumari Devi, the Manipuri girls kept their cool to beat host Bengal 2-1 to carry the coveted trophy home. After the final many members of the Manipuri team were of the opinion that Kumari was a role model as captain and her soothing presence had always helped them perform as a well-knit side even in the adverse conditions.

Kumari, who also represents the Manipur police team has perfected the art of marshalling the defence. She has been donning Indian colours since 1991 and has been the mainstay of Indian defence in various international competitions. But it’s a pity that for Kumari’s excellent contributions for the State and for the country, she received virtually nothing in return. This spirited international star from Manipuri is mere a constable in the Manipur police struggling to make a decent living. And the worst part of it is that when Kumari will decide to hang her boots, she will have to be performing normal police duties.

When asked by this correspondent about the reason behind accepting the job of a constable in the Manipur police, Kumari turned pensive and replied that as she belonged to a poor family, a job was her first priority. Since, the Manipur police offered her one, she could not refuse it.Like all other Manipuri girls, Kumari had also started playing football at an early age. AQnd she went on in great strength day by day. She earned the reputation of a highly talented footballer and made her ascend from club level to the State level and finally to the national squad.

Although they belong to the various States of the North-Eastern region of the country, Narinder Thapa of Sikkim, Nilo Singh and Akhuba Kabui of Manipur, Deepak Sharma of Assam, Anthony Toshiba of Nagaland, H. Lalrema of Mizoram, Rina Ghosh of Tripura or Nada Appa of Arunachal Pradesh have one thing common —— they all want to devote their lives to nurse sporting talent available in the region. That is why they are working hard for nearly one year in the National Institute of Sports (NIS) in Calcutta to complete a course in coaching.

Their determination for bringing the region onto the sporting map of India can be gauged from the extent that all of them are sponsoring their own course of completing the coaches training in the NIS. It’s an irony that even after representing their respective States in various sporting events at the national level for number of years, the State Governments did not think it prudent to sponsor these sportpersons to the NIS on its expenses so that the vast talent available in the region can be tapped and nurtured for future.

Narinder Thapa of Sikkim has played for top football clubs of the country for 14 long years. He is the one whose performances in various tournaments inspired Bhaichung Bhutia and others to take football seriously. After quitting competitive football, Narinder Thapa now wants to nurse the budding talents available in the North-East region. Apart from Narinder, others who are toiling hard in the NIS in Calcutta to be talent-tappers and groomers are Nada Appa, Khowa Yane Ahuya Oang from Arunachal, Nilo Singh and Akhuba Kabui of Manipur.

All of them are unanimous in their views that given a chance the North-East region can equally perform well in football. According to them, ‘there is no dearth of talents; all we need is exposure’. They feel that to provide the much-needed exposure to the upcoming footballers of the region, the state associations along with the state governments should chalk out a comprehensive strategy to send teams for various football tourneys in the country. They lamented over the fact that though moreover 40 Manipuri footballers are at present playing for different football clubs in the country, the Manipur Football Association or the State Government had not made any serious effort so far to form a strong State football team.

Not only in football, but in other disciplines also, many North-Easterners are working hard to get a coaches degree. They are Deepak Sharma, Kalyani Deka, Geeta, Subir Mazumdar, Vikramjit Pal, Ranjit Singh Raja, Deepika Kalita in hockey; Rina Ghosh, Asima Saikia, Utpal Phukan, Mridul Laskar in judo; Gautam Sharma, H. Lalrema in archery and Nipun Das, Birju Roy, Sharmila Barua, Rumi Roy Chowdhury in athletics. Among them few were national champions during their prime. All of them are hopeful that they will be able to deliver the goods if proper facilities are provided to them by the state associations and the State Governments.

Talking about the state of hockey in the North-East region and decline of the Indian hockey as a whole, Deepak Sharma found the present system at fault. He ruefully said that there was no effort to spot the talents at an early age. According to Deepak Sharma the Government should come forward to lay at least one astro-turf each in all the North-Eastern states to make a headway in talent hunting in the region.

Among the coaches to be, the story of Rina Ghosh is unique. The proud mother of a baby girl, Rina is leaving no stone unturned at the NIS in Calcutta to help push the budding talents to the limelight. A good athlete, Rina became a judoka in 1992. In 1995, she performed creditably in the national meet and clinched the third place. Since then, there was no looking back for Rina. Her doctor husband is always very cooperative and helpful in Rina's endeavours.