Assam should double medal tally in next Olympics: Narinder Dhruv Batra

'Guwahati is capable to host Junior World Hockey'

Our Sports Reporter

GUWAHATI: The president of the Indian Olympic Association Narinder Dhruv Batra today advised the sports organizers of the state to work with specific plan so that athletes from Assam can bring at least two medals from the next edition of the Olympics which is scheduled to be held in 2024.

Lauding Lovlina Borgohain's performance in Tokyo the veteran sports organizer also said, "Lovlina had opened the account for her state in Olympics and it's time to march forward. They should target to double their medal haul in Paris."

Batra, who is also the president of International Hockey Federation, arrived this morning in the city in connection with World Junior Hockey championship. He later met with Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to discuss the matter related to this competition. The tournament is scheduled to be held in India in November-December and Guwahati is one of the contenders to host the event.

Talking to The Sentinel at the side line of a meeting organized by Hockey Assam, Batra today said that Guwahati is capable to host the Junior World Hockey Championship. "The infrastructure requires for the tournament is already available in the city. They even earlier successfully hosted South Asian Games too. So I don't see any problem," said Batra.

The president and the secretary of Assam Hockey Keshab Mahanta and Tapan Das along with several other officials of the association were present in the meeting. Organizers of other State Sports Associations also attended the meeting.

Lauding Lovlina's medal winning performance in Olympic the IOA president said, "She fought really well in the Olympics and brought a medal for us. I hope this medal will inspire many youths from Assam as well as other part of the Northeast."

Batra also advised the sports organizers of the region to focus more on individual Games. "In Olympics there are several events like fencing, cycling, gymnastics… which provide huge number of individual medals and all those games have good talents in North East. So if we work with proper plans our performance in Olympics would be much better."

The IOA president later attended a felicitation function organized by the Assam Olympic Association.

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