Assam Olympic Association: Journey through trying times

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has a dream. The dream is about making Guwahati the sports capital of India.
Assam Olympic Association: Journey through trying times

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has a dream. The dream is about making Guwahati the sports capital of India. A great sports enthusiast who was rightfully given the responsibility of Sports and Youth by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his first ministry in 2014, Sonowal had just ebarked upon a grand plan to realise his dream by assuming charge as President of Assam Olympic Association, when the global pandemic triggered off by COVID-19 also affected Assam. The pandemic, which has already taken thousands of human lives across the globe, has also led to a situation when the entire world came under a gloom of despair. Economic activities came to a grinding halt, directly affecting, among other things, sports and games.

Amid this situation of hopelessness, Assam Olympic Association however decided to take the crisis head-on, especially in the backdrop of Assam fast emerging as a major sports epicentre, thanks to a number of sportspersons, who by dint of their hard work has been able to draw national and international attention by winning a number of medals and trophies.

The present committee of Assam Olympic Association took charge on Nvember 10, 2019 with Chief Minister Sonowal as its President and SLSC Member Secretary Lakhya Konwar as its Secretary. But no sooner had it taken charge, the state was gripped by one crisis after the other, the longest one being the global Covid-19 pandemic. Despite that Assam Olympic Association successfully hosted the third edition of Khelo India Youth Games in January this year jointly with the Union Sports and Youth Ministry and the Government of Assam. Close to ten thousand players, office-bearers and sports administrators of the country took part in this national event, who carried back a highly positive message from Assam through the slogan 'Aakou Ahiba" (Come again) coined by the Chief Minister himself. Such has been the reputation earned by Assam and Guwahati that it was only recently that former Indian Hocky captain Sandeep Singh, who is currently Sports Minister of Haryana, made a trip to Guwahati to interact with the AOA office-bearers on various nitty-gritties of successfully organising the Khelo India Youth Games. This is indeed a great honour for AOA.

There can be no second opinion on the fact that Assam Chief Minister Shri Sonowal has been leading the AOA from the front through the crisis precipitated by Covid-19 pandemic. One important example is the new mission launched by AOA, which has been aptly named "Grassroot Olympic: Mission Talent Hunt" through which it has been envisaged to encourage and bring to focus the numerous sports talents lying hidden across the state, especially in the rural areas and provide them a platform to hone their talents. Assam Olympic Association has drawn up a plan to shape this platform in the model of the Khelo India Games, which will provide a big boost to the overall sports scenario of Assam. AOA has been also working on reviving the Assam State Sports Festival which has not been held for a long time.

Meanwhile AOA Secretary Lakhya Konwar has made a hurricane tour of all districts of Assam under the guidance and direction of the present AOA President amid the pandemic situation, and held a series of discussions with office bearers of various sports bodies at the districts level. During these interactions, Konwar made a fervent appeal to the various sports associations to be important stakeholders in this mission. AOA President Sonowal too took time out of his busy schedule to meet sports body officials of different districts during his official tours.

More importantly, AOA president and Chief Minister Sonowal held a series of discussions – some physically, some through webinars – with a number of sportspersons, office bearers of sports associations, organisers and others on how to devise ways to utilise the lockdown period positively and fruitfully so that the players did not stop their regular practice and fitness exercises. The AOA on its part also contributed to the global war against Covid-19 by distributing sanitizers and masks and organising awareness programmes. In order to keep the morale of the sportspersons high during the pandemic, AOA also produced a musical video titled "We shall overcome" in which a number of international players of Assam took part. They included Lovelina Bargohain, Hima Das, Hriday Hazarika, Shiva Thapa, Shivangi Sarma, Ankushita Boro, Rodali Barua, Tania Choudhury, to name a few. Noted singers Sangita Kakati and Anirban Das lent their voices to the musical video.

What however was a first in the entire country, Assam Olympic Association distributed Rs 1.25 lakh as grant to 23 players who have brought laurels to the state in various international and national events, and Rs 40 lakh to 40 sports organisers and sportspersons to cope up with the Covid-19 crisis. Additionally, Rs 73 lakh was distributed to 106 athletes who had won medals for Assam in the Khelo India Youth Games. These financial assistances had provided much-needed succour to the sportspersons and organisers during the difficult days of the global pandemic. Simultaneously, fixed financial grants were also released to 29 state sports orgnisations and 25 district sports associations by AOA. Likewise, a sum of Rs 50,000 was handed over to international athlete Lilawati Daimary for meeting her medical treatment expenses. In the meantime, various state sports associations have together contributed Rs 11,09,002 to the Chief Minister's Covid Fund.

While the pandemic situation is beginning to show signs of improvement, the AOA has started gearing up to take part in the National Games to be held in Goa next year. Recently AOA also organised an invitation prize money athletics meet in collaboration with the State Sports and Youth Welfare department, in which about 150 sportspersons took part. This incidentally is the first major sports tournament in the entire country since the outbreak of the pandemic. This recognition has come from none other than the Indian Olympic Association, and is indeed a feather in the cap for the Assam Olympic Association despite the difficult time the whole world is passing through, which has even forced the postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games this year.

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