Kam­bam So­nia Chanu

Yaoshang is de­rived from two words, Yaong and Shang, mean­ing “hut” or “tem­po­rary shel­ter.” This term holds his­tor­i­cal sig­nif­i­cance, as it is be­lieved to be as­so­ci­at­ed with the birth of Nong­da Lairen Pakhang­ba, the first ruler of the Ma­nipuri king­dom in In­dia. To ho­n­our this his­tor­i­cal and cul­tur­al sig­nif­i­cance, the peo­ple of Ma­nipur burn a sym­bol­ic hut made of bam­boo and rice straw dur­ing the month of Lam­ta (Feb­ru­ary-March), the full moon day of the Meit­ei lu­nar cal­en­dar. This marks the com­mence­ment of the five-day Yaoshang fes­ti­val.

Over time, the fes­ti­val has evolved in­to a grand cul­tur­al cel­e­bra­tion in­cor­po­rat­ing var­i­ous el­e­ments, in­clud­ing sports com­pe­ti­tions, mu­sic, and the play­ing of colours, mak­ing it com­pa­ra­ble to Holi while re­tain­ing its dis­tinct iden­ti­ty.

An­oth­er in­te­gral part of Yaoshang is Tha­bal Chong­ba, a tra­di­tion­al dance that traces its ori­gins to Ougri Hangen Chong­ba, an an­cient rit­u­al­is­tic per­for­mance. His­tor­i­cal­ly, Ougri Hangen Chong­ba was a sa­cred prac­tice per­formed at night, be­lieved to bring pros­per­i­ty and ward off malev­o­lent forces. Over time, this prac­tice trans­formed in­to Tha­bal Chong­ba, a vi­brant night dance where young men and women hold hands and move rhyth­mi­cal­ly in a cir­cle un­der the moon­light. To­day, it re­mains one of the most an­tic­i­pat­ed and cher­ished as­pects of the Yaoshang cel­e­bra­tions, sym­bol­is­ing joy, uni­ty, and cul­tur­al con­ti­nu­ity.

Dur­ing Yaoshang, lo­cal clubs or­gan­ise var­i­ous sport­ing events, from tra­di­tion­al games to mod­ern ath­let­ics. These in­clude track races, marathons, foot­ball, vol­ley­ball, tug-of-war, kabad­di, swim­ming, shot put, arm wrestling, and more. Some of the most no­table ex­am­ples of Ma­nipur’s tra­di­tion­al sports are Thang Ta (a mar­tial art show­cas­ing sword and spear tech­niques), Sagol Kang­jei (an an­cient form of po­lo), Yu­bi Lakpi (a game sim­i­lar to rug­by played with a co­conut), and Hi Yang Tan­a­ba (a tra­di­tion­al boat race sym­bol­is­ing team­work and com­pet­i­tive spir­it). These sports re­flect the deep con­nec­tion be­tween the state’s cul­ture, tra­di­tion, and phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty. The in­fra­struc­ture avail­able at lo­cal clubs de­ter­mines the va­ri­ety of events, en­sur­ing par­tic­i­pa­tion at all lev­els.

One of the most re­mark­able as­pects of Yaoshang Sports is its in­clu­siv­i­ty. It is not lim­it­ed to a spe­cif­ic age group; chil­dren, youth, adults, and even se­nior cit­i­zens par­tic­i­pate in com­pe­ti­tions like bal­loon burst­ing and walk­ing races. This helps in ac­tive par­tic­i­pa­tion and com­mu­ni­ty en­gage­ment, pro­motes phys­i­cal fit­ness, and strength­ens so­cial bonds, mak­ing it an event that tru­ly be­longs to every­one.

Yaoshang Sports as a plat­form for tal­ent

As cities across Ma­nipur host Yaoshang sports events for var­i­ous com­mu­ni­ties, the broad par­tic­i­pa­tion—from chil­dren to adults—pro­vides a unique op­por­tu­ni­ty to iden­ti­fy and nur­ture fu­ture ath­let­ic tal­ent. Lo­cal clubs, with their sports in­fra­struc­ture, play a key role in or­gan­is­ing events that show­case emerg­ing tal­ent. For ex­am­ple, a child ex­celling in a 100-me­tre sprint could be­come a pro­fes­sion­al ath­lete with the prop­er train­ing. At the same time, long-dis­tance races and marathons of­ten un­cov­er en­durance ath­letes with po­ten­tial for suc­cess in pro­fes­sion­al run­ning.

Coach­es, ex­pe­ri­enced ath­letes, and tal­ent scouts can use this plat­form to iden­ti­fy promis­ing in­di­vid­u­als and guide them to­ward struc­tured train­ing. Many na­tion­al-lev­el ath­letes start­ed their jour­ney through grass­roots events like these, mak­ing Yaoshang Sports an es­sen­tial first step in tal­ent de­vel­op­ment.

While Ma­nipur has al­ready pro­duced sports icons like Saikhom Mirabai Chanu and Kun­jarani De­vi, count­less un­tapped tal­ents ex­ist in vil­lages and towns na­tion­wide. The next gen­er­a­tion of sport­ing cham­pi­ons could emerge from this fes­ti­val with prop­er scout­ing and train­ing.

Role of lo­cal clubs and in­fra­struc­ture

Lo­cal sports clubs are the back­bone of Yaoshang sports, pro­vid­ing the nec­es­sary in­fra­struc­ture for com­pe­ti­tions. These clubs serve as com­mu­ni­ty-based train­ing grounds, help­ing young ath­letes de­vel­op their skills in a struc­tured man­ner. Im­prov­ing and main­tain­ing play­grounds, fields, and oth­er train­ing spaces can fur­ther en­hance tal­ent de­vel­op­ment. If clubs re­ceive bet­ter equip­ment and sup­port, they can of­fer year-round train­ing in­stead of lim­it­ing ac­tiv­i­ties to the Yaoshang fes­ti­val.

Col­lab­o­ra­tion be­tween lo­cal clubs and na­tion­al in­sti­tu­tions, such as Na­tion­al Sports Uni­ver­si­ty (NSU), dur­ing Yaoshang fes­ti­val events like foot­ball, khokho, hand­ball, and vol­ley­ball can ben­e­fit Na­tion­al Sports Uni­ver­si­ty stu­dents and lo­cal play­ers. NSU stu­dents can of­fi­ci­ate match­es as part of their learn­ing while pro­mot­ing sports among Ma­nipur peo­ple. Such ini­tia­tives can cre­ate a struc­tured path­way for grass­roots ath­letes. If young tal­ents iden­ti­fied dur­ing Yaoshang Sports re­ceive pro­fes­sion­al coach­ing and ac­cess to ad­vanced fa­cil­i­ties, they could tran­si­tion in­to state and na­tion­al-lev­el com­peti­tors.

Pro­mot­ing sports cul­ture in Ma­nipur

Yaoshang Sports is cru­cial in build­ing aware­ness and en­thu­si­asm for sports in Ma­nipur. By mak­ing sports an in­te­gral part of a cul­tur­al fes­ti­val, the event en­cour­ages a life­long love for phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty among par­tic­i­pants. Be­yond phys­i­cal fit­ness, the fes­ti­val strength­ens so­cial and cul­tur­al bonds. It brings to­geth­er peo­ple of all back­grounds, fos­ter­ing a shared sense of pride and uni­ty. Sports have long been a uni­fy­ing force, and Yaoshang Sports con­tin­ues to up­hold this tra­di­tion.

One of the most in­spir­ing as­pects of Yaoshang Sports is its in­clu­siv­i­ty and ac­ces­si­bil­i­ty. Whether some­one is a sea­soned ath­lete or a first-time par­tic­i­pant, there is a place for every­one. This en­sures that sports be­come es­sen­tial to dai­ly life, lead­ing to health­i­er lifestyles and a more ac­tive pop­u­la­tion.

Fur­ther­more, par­tic­i­pat­ing in sports dur­ing Yaoshang in­stils dis­ci­pline, team­work, and self-con­fi­dence, es­pe­cial­ly in chil­dren and young adults. Whether run­ning a race, play­ing foot­ball, or par­tic­i­pat­ing in a quiz com­pe­ti­tion, these ac­tiv­i­ties help shape fu­ture lead­ers and ath­letes.

Yaoshang Sports is more than just a fes­ti­val; it is a move­ment that fu­els Ma­nipur’s sport­ing spir­it. By pro­vid­ing a plat­form for tal­ent iden­ti­fi­ca­tion, strength­en­ing lo­cal sports in­fra­struc­ture, and pro­mot­ing a strong sports cul­ture, this fes­ti­val con­tin­ues to shape the fu­ture of sports in the state. With con­tin­ued sup­port and struc­tured de­vel­op­ment, it has the po­ten­tial to pro­duce the next gen­er­a­tion of sports icons who will rep­re­sent Ma­nipur and In­dia on the glob­al stage.

Kam­bam So­nia Chanu is cur­rent­ly pur­su­ing a Mas­ter of Phys­i­cal Ed­u­ca­tion in Ma­nipur, In­dia.