Kaushik Rai upbeat about Sports in Lakhipur, invites Mirabai Chanu to attend MLA cup final

The semifinals of the ongoing MLA Cup of Lakhipur is going to be held on August 29 and 30. The mega final will be held on September 4. Internationally acclaimed athletes Nayanmoni Saikia and Mirabai Chanu will grace the finale at Lakhipur. The winning team of the tournament will get one lakh one thousand cash prize followed by fifty one thousand for the runner-up team. This tournament is a part of MLA Kaushik Rai’s “Pragya” Scheme of his constituency.

In the second phase of his Pragya Scheme, the MLA has targeted development of sports infrastructure of the constitution. The football tournament “MLA Cup 2022” started on August 7, this month. Right now the tournament is in it’s quarter final stage and after the semi finals, the grand finale will be graced by Gold medalist in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, Nayanmoni Saikia of lawn ball and India’s weightlifting trailblazer, Mirabai Chanu.

Total 226 teams participated in the tournament starting from the Gaon Panchayat level. A total of 2480 players participated in the tournament from 24 GPs. This is the first such tournament in the history of the entire Barak Valley. The organizers of the tournament were very particular about the players of the tournament. They have ensured that players from one GP can’t participate in the teams from others. Prize money for the tournament was also huge, in the GP level, all the participating teams were given one thousand rupees and the winning team were given five thousand rupees cash. Runners up were also given two thousand five hundred rupees cash. In the grand finale, the winning team will get the winners trophy along with a cash prize of one lakh one thousand rupees and the runners-up will be given 51 thousand rupees along with the trophy.

The target behind the tournament is to improve the sports infrastructure of Lakhipur. The organizers have kept a close eye on all the players and are finding the best players from the huge lot. MLA Kaushik Rai, in this matter said, “The skilled players from the tournament will get special coaching in the future and we are thinking of sending them to good coaching facilities outside”. It is worth mentioning here that, many players from Lakhipur are at their top game in both national and international level. The Indian Futsal Team has over 6 players from Lakhipur and the management is also led by coaches from Lakhipur, soon the team is going to represent India in the international stage. Many football players are not just a part of the district team, but are also a part of the North East United FC and other top teams.