SHILLONG: Its euphoria time for soccer crazy Meghalaya, as the 2014 FIFA World Cup, touted as the world’s greatest sporting spectacle, kick-started in the wee hours of Friday.
The World Cup fever has gripped the Pine City like never before, and die-hard soccer fans are set to remain glued to their television sets late in the night or in the early morning hours for the next one month. Few are complaining of the eight to nine hours’ time difference between the Indian Standard Time and the Brazil Standard Time.
The Shillong Times on Thursday spoke to people from varied backgrounds and sought to know their plans on how they are going to enjoy the World Cup.
Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Zenith Sangma said that he would sit with his officers after the end of the ongoing Assembly session and chalk out plans to ensure that residents of Shillong are given special treatment by installing giant screens in different parts of the city where soccer fans can gather and cheer for their respective favourite teams.
Sangma, however, admitted that nothing concrete on the matter has been mulled as yet.
When asked about his favourite team, Sangma said he would only decide on his favourite team at the end of the first round since he would be able to scrutinize the performance of all the countries.
Shillong Lajong FC general secretary Larsing Ming Sawyan thinks that Argentina, Spain and Brazil are probably the best teams in this edition of the World Cup and any of the three teams can win the coveted title.
Larsing was quite impressed with the idea of installing giant screens in the city so that soccer fans can enjoy live telecast of the matches.
Meanwhile with the onset of the World Cup, sale of television sets has picked up in the State with dealers making attempts to woo potential customers.
A person associated with a television company informed that sales have gone up thanks to the World Cup and also because they have launched various kinds of offers so that customers can enjoy the World Cup on their brand new TV sets.
