By Monojit Mandal
SHILLONG: In a grand ceremonial wrap-up, the first edition of Meghalaya Baby League (MBL), reached its climax at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Thursday with Langsning Greenergy Lions taking home the crown of league champions.
The Lions finished the league table on top of the 12-team standings across all age categories.
At the award ceremony, ENE Falcons were chosen as the Best Disciplined Team of the tournament. In the Best Player awards category for each group, Kyle Ryan Kharkongor of Langsning Greenergy Lions (4-5), Habankara Blah of ENE Falcons (6-7), Sashang Gurung of Touchline NE Cubs (8-9), Banpynshngain Wankhar of Langsning (10-11) and Wansiewdor Nengnong of Langsning (12-13) were adjudged respective winners.
The Meghalaya Baby League — which is a joint initiative of Tata Trusts, the Meghalaya Football Association (MFA) and All India Football Federation (AIFF) — saw immense participation and support from all round in the region with more than 1,300 matches were played over almost seven months with 1,000 children had registered with the MFA for the inaugural MBL in the state, which is also a model in itself being the first of its kind in India.
The award ceremony was graced by the chief guest and Commissioner and Secretary of Sports and Youth Affairs Peter Dkhar, Tata Trusts’ Biswanath Sinha, Centre for Microfinance and Livelihood’s Partho Patwari and MFA President Larsing Ming Sawyan. Speaking on the occasion, Dkhar conveyed best wishes and congratulations, also on behalf of Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Banteidor Lyngdoh.“Not only in the region but also throughout the country the Meghalaya Baby League has been followed with hope and muse, and I’m sure it will continue to inspire more young children in the coming years,” Dkhar said. “The government will keep providing all necessary support and in particular I look forward to other tournaments next year that will give opportunities to our talented youth,” he said.
Sawyan thanked Tata Trusts for the vote of confidence in the MBL, adding, “The MBL was started as a pilot project by AIFF and it has been a model for other states to follow.
The MFA is focused on developing football right from the grassroots level.”“This is India’s biggest baby league event inspite of the fact that it was based largely in and around Shillong,” Sinha said. “That shows that there is quite a space for potential in the rest of the state and also in the entire country. It has been a great success and a big achievement and Tata Trusts has decided to extend the programme also in the next year,” he added.
Chairman of the MFA’s grassroots development committee Wanshan Kharkrang expressed gratitude to Tata Trusts and also to all the parents who had provided enormous support.“It’s been a very taxing seven months. We’ve had lots of successes and a few failures on the way which will help us improve and we have to thank Tata Trusts forthat ,” Kharkrang said.
Earlier in the day, there had been matches held solely for the parents and also for the coaches to inspire the younger ones.