Paljor Stadium in Gangtok where the Dr T Ao Memorial Cup will be held. File picture
Gangtok, Feb. 22 : Sikkim will for the first time host the Dr T Ao Memorial Cup, a premier football tournament for the eight northeastern states.
The tournament,
started by the ministry of DoNER in 2003, will be organised by the
Sikkim sports department this time. The matches will be held at Paljor
Stadium in Gangtok from March 2 to 9.
“The cup is hosted
by all northeastern states in rotation and Sikkim will organise the
tournament for the first time this year. Preparations are on to make the
tournament a success,” state sports secretary Karma P. Bhutia told
journalists here today.
Bhutia hoped that
the best soccer talents would be on display. “This is the biggest
football tournament in the Northeast which is the producer of a large
number of players in the country. I am sure that a lot of budding
talents will be on display at the tournament. All the matches will be
very competitive.”
The eight states
will be divided into two groups with four teams each for the tournament.
Two top teams from each group will qualify for the semi-final.
The winner can
take home Rs 7 lakh, while the runner-up will be awarded Rs 4 lakh. The
state that comes third in the tournament will receive Rs 2 lakh. Manipur
had lifted the cup last year.
The sports
secretary said the Sikkim Football Association had been delegated the
responsibility of raising a team for the state.
“We have written
to the SFA to form the Sikkim team for the tournament. Top players from
Sikkim are playing for clubs outside the state and we have to see
whether they are free or not for the Ao Memorial Cup. We hope Bhaichung
Bhutia will play for Sikkim if he is free,” said Bhutia.
He added that people could watch the matches free.
A player has to be
a resident certificate holder of a particular northeastern state to
represent that team in the cup. Dr Ao was from Nagaland and was the
captain of the first Indian football team for the London Olympics in
1948. He played for Mohun Bagan from 1943 to 1952. The player passed
away in 1998.
The ministry of DoNER had launched the tournament in Dr Ao’s memory in Guwahati in 2003.