The first Chief Minister’s Sagol Kangjei Championship, 2022, organised by All Manipur Polo Association(AMPA) was concluded today at Kangla Imphal. The Championship was organised under the theme of “ Save Manipuri Pony, Save Grazing field, Revive Sagol Kangjei” as a part of a campaign to save Manipuri ponies.
Chief guest at the closing ceremony, Chief Minister N Biren Singh lowered the flag of the game by declaring the Championship concluded.
Before proceeding to Kangla, Chief Minister N Biren Singh unveiled ‘Restoration of Maharaja Bhagyachandra na Shamu Phaba Statue’ at Khwairamband Keithel, Imphal West. The Restoration of the Statue is undertaken by the Department of Art & Culture, Government of Manipur and implemented by the Engineering Cell, Health & Family Welfare Department, Manipur.
Addressing the closing ceremony as chief guest, Chief Minister N Biren Singh said that as the Sangai Festival is observed at 14 places, even though the people of Manipur seem very busy now, we still need to preserve the Sangol Kangjei that is indigenous to our culture. The preservation of the Sagol Kangjei includes all aspects of care, remembrance and revival of the Manipuri pony that has played a major role in protecting us since time immemorial, he expressed.
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N Biren recalled how during the Seven Years Devastation period, our horses or ponies had once declined due to invasion of Manipur by the Burmese from South East Asia. The Burmese had captured around 2000 horses for cavalry purposes around that time. They kept the horses in Burma and invaded Thailand with the help of those horses, he added.
He made a proposal to the organisers to rename the ongoing All Manipur Polo Association as the All Manipur Sagol Kangjei Association and also suggested making a corpus fund to organise this tournament every year without fail. It is our responsibility to respect our elder generations, so we should renovate the Shamu Makhong at Khwairamband Keithel, he said.
Chief Guest N Biren also opined to increase the number of copies of the souvenir and make a plan to include it in the school history syllabus. It is our duty to save the Sagol Kangjei that is indigenious to the state of Manipur, he added.
Functional President, Rajya Sabha MP, Maharaja Sanajaoba Leisemba said that the opening of the First Chief Minister’s Sagol kangjei Championship give us an opportunity to save pony horses, protect their survival and development in the field of indigenous Sagol Kangjei game. He also expressed his desire to include Sagol Kangjei, indigenous game of Manipur in the syllabus of schools for its popularity and to let them known the children.
The championship started from November 18 for 10 days. Altogether there are 14 teams participated in the championship.Between Manipur Police PoloTeam and Tentha Polo Club played the final match and Manipur Police Polo Team won the First Chief Minister’s Sagol Kangjei Championship, 2022 and received a cash prize of Rupees two lakhs with Trophy and Runners up Tentha Polo Club received a cash prize of rupees one lakh with Trophy.
Cabinet Ministers, MP, MLAs, AMPA members, delegates, Artists, doctor teams, Government officials attended at the closing ceremony.
