27th Edition of North-East Games

In the 27th edition of North-East Games played at Imphal, the host state- Manipur claimed the title of overall team champion on 11 April 2013. The North-East Games were played from 8 April 2013 to 11 April 2013. The North-East games included eight states. These games also include Sikkim. Manipur emerged as overall champion with the medal tally of 127. This included 74 gold, 31 silver and 22 bronze. Assam came at the second place with 101 medals which included 31 gold, 30 silver and 40 bronze. Mizoram was at the third place with 72 medals including 20 gold, 19 silver and 33 bronze. Nagaland finished at fourth position with 49 medals and Arunachal Pradesh got 45 medals. At the lowest rank were Meghalaya with 37 medals, Tripura with 36 medals and Sikkim 11 medals.

About 27th North East Games 2013

• The 27th North East Games 2013 were opened by Manipur Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh.

• North East Games were earlier known as North East Sports Festival.

• The North East Games were started with an aim of promoting the sports and games in the North East region.

• First edition of North East Games was held in Imphal in 1986-87.

Raninder Singh re-elected as the President of National Rifle Association of India

Raninder Singh on 6 April 2013 was re-elected as the President of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI). The announcement of his re-election was made at Hotel Raj Hans, Suraj Kund, by Justice (retd) Mehtab Singh Gill during the NRAI’s General Body Meeting. Raninder Singh has been holding the Post of the President since 29 December 2010.

World Youth Weightlifting Championships 2013

Jamjang Deru won silver in the 50 kg boys’ category at Tashkent, Uzbekistan on 8 April 2013 in the world youth weightlifting championships 2013. With the victory of Jamjang Deru, this was also the first medal for India in the world youth weightlifting championships. Jamjang Deru won silver in the clean and jerk and lifted 110 kg. He finished at the fourth position with a total lift of 195 kg. In snatch, he lifted 85 kg. In same 50 kg boys’ category, Deepak Lather lifted 174 kg to finish at the 12th position. In the girls’ 44 kg category, Chandrika Tarafdar finished at the seventh position with 135 kg. Poonam Dalal lifted 122 kg to finish at the 15th position. It is worth noticing that World Youth Championships is the qualifying event for 2014 Youth Olympic Games.

ONGC 12th Asian Billiards Championship

Rupesh Shah, the world champion won the 12th Asian Billiards championship at Indore Tennis Club, Indore on 7 April 2013. He defeated Alok Kumar 6-4 in the fierce match. Rupesh Shah finished at 101, 95 and 100 to defeat Alok Kumar. It is important to note that this is the 10th Asian Billiards title. Rupesh Shah is the new entry into the club of elites such as Ashok Shandilya, Alok Kumar, Geet Sethi, Pankaj Advani and Devendra Joshi. Rupesh Shah already qualified for 2013 World Championship as the defending champion.

20th National Archery Championship

Assam on 21 April 2013 topped in the medal tally of the 20th National Archery Championship that was held at Raipur in Chhattisgarh. Assam topped in the chart of states, by claiming four gold medals. Assam won the team event in women’s category, while services Sports Control Board won the Men’s team event.

The event was organised from 17 April to 21 April 2013 and was conducted at Agrasen Dham. The National Championship was organised by the Chhattisgarh Pradesh Archery Association and was the Olympic Qualifying Event. In this mega event, more than 500 archers, coach, technical team and officials of Archery bodies from across 28 States and seven Union Territories participated in the event.

ASBC Asian Confederation Junior Boxing Championships 2013

At the final round of ASBC Asian Confederation Junior Boxing Championships in Kazakhstan, Prayag Chauhan defeated Azat Ilyubayev in the lightweight category (60kg) on 22 April 2013 to grab a gold medal. In an overall performance, India stood at the third position in team rankings. The Indian boxers completed Asian meet with three bronze and one gold medal. Prayag Chauhan, 16, won the match in 60 kg category. On the other hand, the sub-junior national champion Aditya Maan (66kg) grabbed bronze medal at the Asian Championships. He lost to Uzbek boxer, Merjanev Eldar. Pradeep (63 kg) finished the tournament with third position. He lost to Kazakhstan’s Stolbovskiy Vladislav in semi-finals.

Chris Hoy, six time Olympic Gold Medalist announced Retirement

Sir Chris Hoy, the Six-time Olympic Gold Medalist from Britain on 18 April 2013 decided to retire from cycling after using every last ounce of energy and effort at London 2012. He announced his retirement at Murrayfield in Edinburgh. The 37 year old cycling champion decided to retire before the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

About Chris Hoy

• Chris Hoy has six-Olympic Gold Medals by his name; he secured the last two during the London Olympics-2012

• He won his first Olympic gold medal by securing a victory in the one kilometre time-trial at Athens in 2004

• In Sydney Olympics 2000, he won a silver medal in the team sprint

• During the Beijing Olympics in 2008, he won 3 gold medals by his name in the in the team sprint, keirin and sprint

• In 2008 he was voted as the 2008 BBC Sports Personality of the year

• He is the first Briton, who claimed six Olympic Gold medal by his name, before him Sir Steve Redgrave recorded his name as a person to win maximum gold medals with five Olympic Gold medals