Manipur Prime Minister N Biren Singh plays football© Twitter
Manipur’s prime minister, N Biren Singh, was a talented footballer in his early years. He was 18 years old when he was spotted by Border Security Force (BSF) officials during a football match in Imphal, the capital of Manipur. He joined the BSF team and was part of the side that won the Durand Cup in 1981. He left the BSF team a year later in 1982 but played football in the Manipur state team for 10 more years.
The 2022 edition of the Durand Cup, Asia’s oldest football tournament, will be held at multiple venues in Kolkata, Imphal and Guwahati. Manipur has hosted 10 Group C matches of the Cup. To promote the competition, N Biren Singh posted a video on social media where he can be seen playing with a soccer ball.
Watch: N Biren Singh Shows His Football Skills
Come all!
Today let’s enjoy the opening ceremony of the Durand Cup, one of the oldest football tournaments in the world.@PMOIndia @narendramodi @rajnathsingh @adgpi pic.twitter.com/Rl7uhNZRr1
— N.Biren Singh (@NBirenSingh) August 18, 2022
The government of Manipur on Thursday announced a half-day holiday for all government offices and institutions, including schools and colleges, to allow workers to watch the inaugural match between two state teams of NEROCA FC and TRAU FC.
NEROCA FC defeated local rivals TRAU FC 3-1 in a Group C match of the Durand Cup at Khuman Lampak Stadium here on Thursday. Biren Singh in his speech thanked the Indian military and the tournament authority for making Durand Cup matches possible in the state.
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