State Wushu body rues apathy of govt    

Shillong, Dec 12: The Meghalaya Wushu Association (MWA) has rued apathy of the state government in promoting the sports discipline in the state.

The president of MWA, Donny R Ranee, said the state sports persons got only two bronze medals in the just concluded 30^th, Senior (Men & Women) National Wushu Championship, 2021 held at Police Academy, Bhauri, Bhopal from December 4 to 10.

He said nine athletes- 2 women and 7 men- under  his leadership and Lamphrang Kharsahnoh as senior coach and representative from Smit, East Khasi Hills, took part in the event.

The two bronze medals were won by Francis.R.R.Songthiang and Thomas Rongthaluh both in Toalu Kungfu events.

Four athletes- 3 male and 1 female of the Sanshou event lost in the 1^st round, Riwestar Kharumnuid lost in the 2^nd round except Lorenza Songthiang who defeated opponents from Uttarkhand and West Bengal could make it the quarter final and lost to the opponent from UP and Juh Nongtdu too lost in the quarter final to an opponent from Maharashtra.

In a statement, the MWA president said the Meghalaya contingents could have done better if the sports department had provided infrastructure to the association to improve Sanshou and Taolu arenas which has been a long pending demand by the Wushuists of the state since 2016.

The president of MWA said lack of infrastructure and neglect by the authority concerned in providing MWA with adequate things is the reason behind the loss.

He said Wushu, which is a sports under the banner of Meghalaya State Olympic Association (MSOA), has already been included for the preparation of National Games and by 2022, there should have been infrastructure facilities ready to enable the athletes to prepare themselves better for any games either North East Olympic Games or National Games but till date nothing was done for the Wushuists in the state.

In the recently concluded 30^th Senior National Wushu Championship held at Bhopal, 1,100  participants were from all states in the country, including Air Force, ITBP,SSB,AIP, SAI, SSCB and others. The champion team was the SSCB with its centre at ARC Happy Valley, Shillong.