By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The fourth Dr T Ao Memorial Football Tournament will be held for the first time in the state of Meghalaya starting next week.
The tournament, which is held in memory of legendary footballer Talimeran Ao, will be held from March 18-27, with more than half the matches to be held under the newly-installed floodlights at the JN Stadium, Polo.
The main objective of the tournament is to promote a healthy spirit of competition amongst the youth and players of the eight North-East states.
Hosts Meghalaya are in Group A, along with Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Nagaland.
Group B features Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura.
The Dr T Ao Football Tournament takes place in the eight north-eastern states annually.
Nagaland, from where Dr Ao hailed from, hosted the first tournament, with Manipur and Sikkim hosting the second and third editions, respectively.
Mizoram are the defending champions, with Manipur having won the first two tournaments.
The tournament was started by the NEC and DoNER.
At a press conference held at the Meghalaya Football Association office on Wednesday, MFA general secretary Larsing Ming Sawyan provided details of the tournament.
“The opening ceremony of the tournament will take place on the 18th of March at the JN Stadium, Shillong at 4pm.
“The tournament will be inaugurated by our honourable Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma,” he said.
Member of the organinsing committee B Diengdoh said, “Two matches will be played per day at 1pm and 5pm and the tickets are priced at Rs 20 (open gallery) and Rs 30 (covered gallery).”
He also mentioned that VIP tickets will not be sold as the seats will be reserved for the team members of all the participating states as well as for invitees.
All three of Meghalaya’s games have been scheduled for 5pm and the state will take on Arunachal Pradesh on March 18, Nagaland on March 20 and Assam on March 22.
The match against Arunachal will be the first official football match to be held under floodlights at the ground.
The semifinals have been fixed for March 25 at 1pm and 5pm, with the third place play-off set for the following day (5pm).
The final will be held on March 27 at 5pm.
Dr Ao was a Mohun Bagan and India international football player.
He was born in Nagaland in 1918 and led the national team in their match against France at the 1948 Olympics in London, which was independent India’s first international match.
Although the team lost 2-1 to the Europeans, they put up a strong fight that gained them a lot of respect.
After starting out his football career in Assam, Dr Ao moved to Mohun Bagan in 1943.
He is remembered for an incident of pure sportsman-ship in the 1950 Durand Cup final where, after an injury to a Hyderabad Police player, he switched teams and played for the opposition.
The Nagaland native became captain of Bagan in 1948 and remained loyal to the team until he retired from the sport in 1952.
He later studied medicine in Kolkata and then returned to Nagaland, where he was made the director of the Nagaland Health Service in 1978.
Dr Ao passed away in 1998 at the age of 80.