Manipur eves annexe National Youth Championship

GUWAHATI: Manipur dominated the proceedings to clinch the sixth National Youth Women's Boxing Championships with three gold medals.

Manipur totalled 28 points. Hosts Assam got the runners-up trophy with two gold medals and 25 points, while Punjab finished third with a gold and 19 Points.

Sarjubala Devi (48kg) of Manipur was adjudged the 'Best Boxer' while Anita Kahar (51kg) of Assam was declared the 'Best Loser'.

Sarjubala Devi defeated Mizoram's 9-2 in the finals. The other two gold medals for Manipur came from Sony Chanu (57kg) and Memthoi Devi (69kg).

Manipur boxers bag best team title

GUWAHATI, July 26 – Manipur won three gold medals and clinched the best team title scoring 28 points in the 6th Youth Women National Boxing Championship which concluded at the Tarun Ram Phookan Indoor Stadium here today.

Assam was declared second best team with 25 points while Punjab came third with 19 points.

Sarjubala Devi, who got the best boxer award, won the first gold medal for Manipur defeating Rebecca of Mizoram 9-2 in the final of the 48 kg weight group. Sony Chanu added one more gold to Manipur’s coffer with a 2-0 point victory against Punjab girl Priyanka. E Memthoi clinched the third gold for Manipur thrashing Heena Tokak of Delhi by 6-2 points.

For Assam, Fwilao Basumatary won the first gold medal downing Manipur girl Lakia Soyiban 6-1 in the 54 kg category. The second gold for Assam came through Anjali Muchahary who defeated Muklesh Kumar of Haryana by 7-2 points in the 60 kg group final.

It was a disappointing day for Anita Kahar as the agile Assam girl went down to Sonia of Haryana 5-8. Another Assam girl Minu Basumatary was also beaten in the final by her Punjab opponent Monika Soun 1-3 in a tough contest. Anita, however was adjudged most promising boxer of the meet.

Other gold medal winners were Princy of Kerala who beat Namrata of Madhya Pradesh 3-2 in the 75 kg group and Jagmeet Kaur of Uttarakhand who defeated Aman Deep of Punjab 8-1 in the 81 kg category. In the last match of the day, Nidhi of Haryana knocked out Tanuja Joshi of Uttarakhand in the third round.

Meanwhile, rain water leaked into the interior of the stadium due to a damaged roof which caused severe inconvenience to the players and the spectators.

Three injured in tear gas firing by police in Manipur

Three workers of Manipur People's Party (MPP) were injured today when police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd protesting against price hike in the state, police said.

MPP president Nimaichand Luwang along with several MPP workers were coming to Manipur Assembly to protest against what they called an 'artificial' price rise of all essential commodities.

Police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd, police said adding that three persons were injured.

Market reports said potato was being sold at Rs20, onion at Rs25, mung dal at Rs80, etc after the recent economic blockade called by the All Naga Students Association Manipur.

Manipur prepares to fight Japanese encephalitis

Sobhapati Samom

IMPHAL, July 19 : Manipur is preparing to combat the ‘Japanese encephalitis’ epidemic that has claimed several lives in the four valley districts since it was reported early this month.

The State Health department is also coordinating with the Veterinary and Animal Husbandry department to tackle the epidemic. Health Minister Pheiroijam Parijat Singh, replying to a call attention motion on the acute shortage of medicine to fight ‘Japanese Encephalitis’ as published in the local dailies, informed the Assembly on Thursday that necessary steps have been taken up on a “war footing” to contain the epidemic.

The Minister said systematic and supportive treatment for the infected patients is the need of the hour as there is no separate medicine for the epidemic. Prevention is one of the important option to avoid the disease.

“Fogging will be intensified besides identifying the affected areas”, Parijat said. So far eight persons have become victims of the epidemic while 75 others were given treatment at Health centres in the State.

Thrre others in Bishnupur district and Senapati district died of the epidemic. This was confirmed following the arrival of report from the testing centres outside the State.

Of the 27 samples sent for testing to Regional Medical Research Centre, Dibrugarh, 24 have tested positive for the epidemic. Similarly, 10 of the 13 samples sent for testing at National Centre for Disease Control, New Delhi have also confirmed positive.