Leishangthem Ajit : "I can not live without sports"

Seram Neken *

Manipur is known as the powerhouse of sports in India, as it has got a number of people who are devoted to games and sports. Leishangthem Ajit is one such personality whose life is synonymous with sports. 'ON THE GOLDEN FOOTPRINTS' reproduces here the profile of Leishangthem Ajit from Ratneshwori Goswami's Akao Parei Chankhrabasing published in the Huieyen Lanpao (Manipuri)..

Every morning, one can see a medium sized slightly thin and smart person in his sixties running across the Singjamei and its adjoining streets. Walking and running seem to be his way of life. He is non other than veteran athlete Leishangthem Ajit. Also known as Oja Ajit, he is one of the renowned athletes of Manipur from the 1960s. He was born on Wednesday, the 9th May 1945 at Singjamei Leishangthem Leikai, Imphal. The eldest child of the family, L. Ajit was brought up in a sports environment, where his father Leishangthem Kesho was one of the early Hockey players of Manipur. His mother Rajkumari Tathodsana Shija is the daughter of Raja Dhumbra Singh and all her brothers were active members of Eastern Sporting Union.

During his early childhood, Shri Ajit had the opportunity to witness the Hockey matches of his father at Manipur Olympic Games at the Imphal Pologround. He recounted that his father participated in the Beighton Cup in 1948 at Calcutta as a Centre-half player of Manipur Eleven Team. In spite of his grandfather's disapproval of participation in sports, his father Kesho took keen interests in sports. There were days that his father sheltered at his maternal uncle's Nongmeibung residence in order to freely join the games. His father also played under different sports clubs such as Manipur Town Club and Eastern Sporting Union.

From the beginning, Ajit's family had the habit of reading national newspapers like Hindustan Standard and Amrita Bazar Patrika, which served as instigation towards games and sports. He could remember his father reading the publication 'Sports and Pass-Time', when he was only in Class-III/IV. The stories of a number of Sports Stars and Olympic Medalists were some sort of an inspiration to Ajit's sports career.

Started schooling at the Pettigrew School at Singjamei Thokchom Leikai, L. Ajit studied ME at Moirangkhom School and later at Raja Dhumbra school upto class VIII. From Class-IX, he shifted to Meitei Mayek School, from where he passed out Matriculation in 1962. His sports career started in the school, where he used to participate in the school Sports Meet held at the Kongba Soudongbung Sports ground and held first positions in most of the athletic events.

In 1960, he took part in the SSU Sports Meet at Kakwa Lamdaibung as a junior player. For the High Jump events, he had to consult with players of the time such as Koijam Kesho, Akoijam Tarakishore etc. In 1962, he stood first position in High Jump at the Sports Meet of IBSA at Pishum Hao Ground. According to L. Ajit, some of the athletes who could have jumped over 5.5 feet before him were Kesho, O. Jayenta, Oja Tarakishore, Krishnakumar etc.

During 1962, Ajit participated in the Coaching Camp at Imphal where renowned Coaches from other Indian states gave training on five events - Hockey, Volleyball, Football, Gymnastics and Athletics. He recalled the names of the Coaches as Neina Kandu (Hockey), Supi Sagar (Volleyball), Mitra (Football) and Ranbir Singh (Athletics). Oja Baruni from Elangbam leikai was the Coach in Gymnastics. Ranbir Singh was a famous Athletics Coach who had trained the well-known athlete Milkha Singh. The Coaching organized by Oja Modhu was indeed useful to the players.

As a student of DM College, he took part in the Inter-college Sports Festival at Nagaon in 1963 in which the college turned out to be champions and Shri Ajit got first position in High Jump. Soibam Megha led the team and other players included Ranjit Roy (Volleyball), RK Meghen (Badminton), RK Subol, AK Surjit (100 metre race), RK Madhurjit (Football), Gourikumari (Athletics), Krishnakumari, G. Churchil Sharma (Marathon) and BC Hawasbam (Weightlifting). Tongbram Gambhirchand was the Captain of DM College Team. During those times, the All Manipur Sports Association was the lone sports body in Manipur, the biggest sports events being the State Games and the DM College Sports Meet.

The locality of Leishangthem Ajit had a conducive environment for the growth of sportspersons. It had a big Mandap and a lawn where the youths used to play Football, Hockey, Volleyball etc. On the river banks, they used to practice Long Jump, Broad Jump, High Jump etc. There were active sportsmen in and around his locality. In the 1962 State Games, five persons including Ajit stood on the victory stand. Ajit recalled that O. Jayenta from Singjamei Kshetri Leikai got first, Koijam kesho from Mayengbam Leikai and Krishnakumar from Uripok got second positions, while he along with Juge from Heirangoithong finished third positions.

Although Manipur had standard sports persons by the 1940s, its players had to play under Assam state as it got statehood only in 1972. Joining in the Assam state Team usually led to discouragement when the time for national selection came. Assam state wanted to field their own players during important tournaments, thereby discriminating the Manipuri players. Manipur could have register Olympic berths earlier, if the state associations had got affiliations by that time.

In 1966 DM College Sports Meet, Leishangthem Ajit encountered the happiest moment when he successfully jumped over 6 feet in High Jump event. For the record jump, Ajit's name was widely published and broadcast in the newspapers and radio. As he remembered, Oja Soibam Megha, Oja Arambam Lokendra, Oja Chaoba were the Judges in the competition. During that time, he was studying for BA examination and at the same time reading sports books and journals. Ajit got important information and ides on High Jump from the American book "Modern Tract and Field" which he read in the DM College Library room. With all determination, he participated in the competition. During his college days, he could win first positions in three different occasions.

During his post-graduate study at Guwahati University in 1967, L. Ajit participated in the sports events. He was adjudged the Best Jumper at the Assam Inter- College Sports festival by winning first in Tripple Jump and High Jump events, and second in Long Jump. In 1968, he also joined the Inter-University sports meet held in Hyderabad.

After post-graduate studies, Ajit went to National Institute of Sports in Patiala to join the NIS (Athletics) Training. Patiala Institute was the lone sports institution in the country and biggest in Asia. There he had the opportunity to befriend with famous sports persons. After NIS training, he studied Law at Law College for some time. Ajit represented the college in Inter-college Sports Festival at Guwahati where he was adjudged the Best Jumper. Later, in the Manipur State Games, he got first positions in the Tripple Jump and Long Jump events, while in High Jump he finished second.

From September 1972, he became a Post-Graduate Teacher of Geography in Sainik School. Although he taught Social Science and Geography in the school, he began teach Athletics and other games to the students. Along with two other Physical Training Instructors S. Amutombi and M. Pahari, Leishangthem Ajit trained the school students in various sports events. Thus, Sainik School could win champions on various Inter-School and State-Level competitions. After serving as a teacher for 34 years, he retired from service in 2006.

L. Ajit has been invited to various national athletics meets as he had passed the examination for Technical Officials conducted by Athletics Federation of India in 1969. In the VIII Asian Games in 1982, he was one of the technical officials in Athletics. Later, he was the Technical Official in the South Asian Federation Games in Calcutta, Afro-Asian Games in Hyderabad and Asian Grand-Pre Athletics. He is presently the President of Athletics Association of Manipur and the General Body member of Athletics Federation of India.

As the Coordinator of the Kids training under the International Association of Athletics Federation, he has set on to conduct athletics training to the children of the state until his end. A regular Sports Columnist of Hueiyen Lanpao Daily, Shri Leiahangthem Ajit is also going to publish a book on Olympics for the benefit of the posterity.

Brought up as a sports person, he played in the field and worked for sports development at various capacities. Sports being his life, he always says "I can not live without Sports".

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