- Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura
Agartala, September 08, 2022 : Tripura’s Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma on Thursday opened the four-day long ‘YONEX – SUNRISE’ North East Zone Inter-State Badminton Championship 2022 at the premises of Netaji Subhash Regional Coaching Centre (NSRCC) here in Agartala city. The event is organized by the Tripura Badminton Association.
Addressing the inauguration ceremony, Deputy Chief Minister Dev Varma said “The 8 sister states comes under one roof. The North East has made the nation proud by giving our motherland National sports Icons- the sun rises from Arunachal to light up India, Manipur the land of jewels has given us Mary Kom, Assam Hima Das, from tiny Himalayan state Sikkim, Baichung Bhutia, from Meghalaya the Abode of clouds where archery and football is famous Aiborlang Khongjee, Mizoram where football is played by almost all there is also H Lal Ruatfeli (hockey), from Nagaland the land of the proud Nagas Viseyie Koso and from Tripura the land of history and culture Somdev Dev Varman, Deepa Karmakar, etc.”
Deputy Chief Minister conveyed his thanks to the badminton players of all the eight north eastern states who have come here to participate in this four days championship event. He said “We want some more events like this in the North East, maybe we all can come together and share our thoughts. I have been to boarding school, played different kinds of games and a sportsman is a sportsman. He knows how to achieve victory and defeat. He knows what technique to use and when to use, how to respond, that is why sports are very important in life. In every school and every institution, there has to be sports, especially in the northeast.”
“It is important as we have to fight the menace of drugs that can be fought through sports. We must generalize the energy of the youngsters, they are very positive-minded and sports is not an extracurricular activity. Today sports is a curricular activity, a professional activity. What is a profession- where you get paid. It must have career progressive promotion like from the district level to international level. There is growth in the job. Today sports is a career option as it is a curricular activity. Activity doubles with name and fame to the state and the nation. This activity makes you an youth icon” he added.
Dev Varma, who is also the president of the Tripura Badminton Association said “Most of us are small states and we have proved to all that small is beautiful. These are just a few of the names there are many and many more to come in the future. Best of luck to all the teams. May the best Team win”.
