North East Zone Shooting Championship concludes in Dimapur

Dimapur (Nagaland) [India], Sept. 4 (ANI): The fourth North East Zone Shooting Championship (NEZSC) concluded at the Aries Sports Complex in Dimapur yesterday. During the championship, 162 shooters participated, out of which 50 shooters qualified for the national championship. Along with the rest of north-east qualifiers, two Naga shooters will make waves in the 59th National Shooting Championship that will be held in New Delhi from December 1 to 15. Richard Zothankima, Assistant Secretary, Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission for Manipur and Mizoram and a former president of Mizoram Rifle Association, was the chief guest on the occasion. Zothankima during his address boosted the morale of the shooters and urged them to help each other for the glory of the north-east. "If Abhinav Bindra can win gold (then) why not you?" he said while asking the shooters to make the best use of the equipments. He also encouraged Nagaland to make the best use of the shooting arena as it comes equipped with all the shooting range, i.e., 50m, 25m, 10m, whereas Mizoram doesn't have the whole package. He urged the Naga shooters to make the best use of it. A remarkable feature of the first Northeast Shooting Championship in Nagaland was the participation of a wheelchair-target-shooter Aman Ali from Assam in 10m Air Pistol. The six-day event witnessed the participation of 162 shooters from Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland. Altogether, a total of 88 matches under National Rules and International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) were played. Manipur with 16 gold, 12 silver and eight bronze was the big winner, followed by Assam with 14 gold, nine silver and eight bronze. Meghalaya bagged six gold, three silver and three bronze, Mizoram got two gold, two silver and two bronze while Nagaland got two silver and one bronze. The fifth North East Zone Shooting Championship will be hosted by Meghalaya. (ANI)