Manipur to host Dr T. Ao Memorial Football Tournament

This time around Manipur will play hosts for the Dr T. Ao Memorial Football Tournament to be played from November 21 to 30 in Imphal. The tournament is funded by the ministry for Development of North Eeastern Region (DoNER). The last edition was played in Nagaland.

In all the seven Northeastern states along with Sikkim will be seen in action. The eight participating states will be divided into two groups of four teams each with the top two sides making it to the semifinals. And the tournament can be seen as an own Santosh Trophy of the Northeast in this football crazy part of India and it gives young talent the chance to compete with the best from the region, who aren't playing at the top national professional level.

The All Manipur Football Association has named L. Nandakumar Singh as the states coach with S. Premkanta Singh as the goalkeeping coach and Ng. Brojendra Singh as the manager. 28 players have been called for the trials to select the final squad for Manipur, who would like to keep the trophy in the state.