Skip to content Skip to navigation

Centenary celebration of Assam sports journalism begins

By Nava Thakuria |

Guwahati: A year-long celebration of 100 years of sports journalism in Assam begins coinciding on the day while the first ever news related to a football competition is published in Asomiya (a weekly news magazine mentored by Chandra Kumar Agarwala) on 1  July 1923. Assam Sports Journalists Association (ASJA), which is affiliated with the Sports Journalists Federation of India (a national affiliate of the International Sports Press Association), has taken the lead in celebrating the occasion that will culminate on 1  July next year.

On Saturday, flags for ASJA and the centenary celebration were hoisted by ASJA’s founder president Balendra Mohan Chakraborty and his successor Pabitra Gogoi in the presence of senior sports organiser Rajib Prakash Baruah and other dignitaries  at the ASJA office premises under RG Baruah Sports Complex in the city. It was followed by a felicitation programme to the family members of some pioneer sports journalists.

Organised at the conference hall of Assam Olympic Association (AOA), the programme also witnessed the felicitation of many close relatives of deceased sports journalists for their invaluable contributions to the profession. The programme was graced by a number of prominent journalists, namely Dhirendra Nath Chakraborty, Premadhar Sarma, Pranay Bordoloi, PJ Baruah, Nava Thakuria,  Rahul Karmakar, Sanjiv Phukan and others.

Addressing the gathering, AOA general secretary Lakhya Konwar disclosed that sports journalists have played a major role in the sustained growth of sports in Assam over the decades. He expressed gratitude to the organisers for giving the State’s apex sports body an opportunity to walk hand in hand in the growth of sports. ASJA general secretary Imtiaz Ahmed informed me that the yearlong celebrations have been supported by ONGC, NRL, OIL, Topcem, ACA, AOA and other well-wishers.

“The celebration also coincides with World Sports Journalists’ Day that falls on 2 July. We will hold a mega inaugural ceremony to the yearlong celebrations on  9 July where some prominent sportspersons of India will be present,” said ASJA president Subodh Malla Baruah, adding that  publishing a book on the history of sports & related journalism and  building a memorial to mark the occasion are also on the card. ASJA Vice-President Bidyut Kalita informed that State chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his predecessor Sarbananda Sonowal, presently a Union minister and  AOA president, have assured all possible support.

The feliciated family members including Dr Indira Choudhury (wife of acclaimed author-editor Nirod Choudhury), Kalyan Das (son of  pioneer sports journalist Pulin Das), Bipul Barman (son of photojournalist Tarani Barman), Junti Bora (wife of Purbajyoti Chutia),  Smriti Sarma (wife of Sanjiv Sarma Thakur), Sima Das (wife of Kapil Das), Urbashi Devi (wife of Dwijen Sarma), Anita Goswami (sister of Kulen Kalita), relatives of Murali Choudhury, Rahman Ali, Gautam Bora, Kingshuk Ghatak, Nanda Kishore Gupta, Gopal Mishra,  Debi Ram Das, Ashish Dey, etc offered heartfelt thanks to the organisers.

Author info

Nava Thakuria's picture

Senior journalist based in Guwahati.

Add new comment

Assamese Translator

Assam Times seeks English to Assamese translators!
Join our volunteer team.
Email editor@assamtimes.org.

Random Stories

Day-night cricket tournament at Krishnai

Day-night cricket tournament at Krishnai

29 Dec 2012 - 3:21pm | Bidyut Sarkar
Krishnai Youth Welfare Association is organizing a district-level day-night cricket tournament at Krishnai Vivekananda High School playground from December 27 to 30. Teams from various districts have...

Police firing at jute cultivators; 4 dead

10 Oct 2011 - 8:52pm | editor
Four persons died and at least 20 others have been injured when security forces sprang upon a group of jute cultivators on Monday when they were blocking the national highway in Darrang district...

APCC dresses afresh!

5 May 2015 - 8:20am | AT News
Braving an unstoppable dissidence Assam Congress is gearing up for the assembly polls early next year. Party president Anjan Dutta who is camping in New Delhi for a series of meetings with the party...

Guwahati turns as a safe haven for militants

7 May 2008 - 11:54pm | Daya Nath Singh
Frequently the media reports go through the failures of Assam Police, on which the common people have started losing confidence. From time to time people complain about non-registering of their...

Other Contents by Author

By-polls: Burden on taxpayers for making Parliamentarians out of Legislators

The recently concluded by-polls for 48 legislative assembly constituencies in 14 States (along with two Parliamentary constituencies in Kerala and Maharashtra) divulged an important fact that no less than  41 assembly seats needed  the special elections as those were vacated by the respective legislators after they were elected to the lower house of Indian Parliament. The representatives of different political parties (irrespective of their ideologies or position in the governments) participated in the last general elections and succeeded to be  lawmakers in the 18th Lok Sabha. One may wonder how all these members of State legislative assemblies turned Parliamentarians...

11th journalist killed in Pakistan this year, PEC expresses concern

Geneva based the Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), a global organization advocating for media safety and rights, has expressed deep concern over the ongoing violence against journalists in Pakistan. The latest victim, Janan Hussain (40), was killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa near the Afghan border on November 20, during an ambush in the Kurram area that claimed the lives of 42 Shiite Muslims. Hussain, a journalist with Channel 365 and a member of the Parachinar Press Club, is the 11th media worker killed in Pakistan this year. "Janan Hussain's murder marks the 129th journalist killed globally since January 1, highlighting the grim reality of impunity in such cases," said Blaise Lempen, President...

Palestinian journalist receives PEC 2024 prize

The Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) awarded its annual prize for the protection of journalists to Palestinian journalist Iyad Alasttal. This recognition comes amidst the unprecedented loss of over 150 Palestinian and Lebanese journalists since October 7, 2023, marking one of the highest tolls in such a short period in a conflict. The PEC dedicated the prize to the memory of these journalists who risk their lives daily. Iyad Alasttal, a journalist from Gaza, was forced to flee due to Israeli reprisals following the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. Alasttal, who launched the Gaza Stories project in 2019, has been chronicling life in Gaza and reporting for French and Western media outlets....

The Unfinished Story of Assam's NRC

On the midnight of August 31, 2019, an extraordinary bureaucrat unveiled the contentious National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, amidst a large gathering of eager media personnel in Guwahati. Prateek Hajela, the then State NRC coordinator, not only explained various features of the NRC to the assembled reporters but also declared the supplementary list as the definitive one. Some television journalists, excited by the so-called "extraordinary work" of the technocrat-turned-IAS officer, went as far as to applaud Hajela as a superhero. However, the ground reality paints a different picture. The Assam NRC has never been endorsed—nor is it today—by the Registrar General of India (RGI...

When scribes face corruption charges & arrests

It’s shocking to report that a number of Guwahati-based scribes and RTI (right to information) activists have been facing interrogation and even arrest by Assam chief minister’s special vigilance cell following the allegations of Sewali Devi Sharma, the prime accused in Rs 105 crore State council of educational research and training (SCERT) scam, as being blackmailers to her in different occasions. The arrestees include a female reporter (identified as Pujamoni Das alias Honey Kashyap, who reportedly took a large volume of money from Ms Sharma) along with a satellite news channel reporter named Bhaskarjoti Hazarika.  RTI activists namely Rabijit Gogoi (who pretended to be a...

Dreaming of a new world with three zeros

Can we imagine a world of zero poverty, zero unemployment, and zero carbon emissions with a new approach in post-corona economics! Ask Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus and he will answer in the affirmative. The university professor turned revolutionary banker believes that the human race should not only dream about a safer world by reducing global warming, wealth concentration and unemployment, but also work in that direction with personal and collective capacities. In his latest book titled ‘A World of Three Zeros’, Prof Yunus proposes a new economic system focusing on every human being as an entrepreneur in the making. He believes that humans are not born to work only for...

Assam readies to host G20 meetings

Guwahati: Assam is all set to host first sustainable financial working group (SFWG) meeting and Youth 20 inception meeting as part of India's year-long G20 presidency, where it is meticulously chalked out various tour programs that would help in promoting the State’s rich biodiversity and socio-cultural heritage in international arena. The authorities have completed the preparation to welcome the foreign delegates to the State. Guwahati is adorned with digital wall painting, thematic gates, flags of G 20 countries, LED cut-outs, standees, hoarding, etc as part of branding and beautification. The government has also completed the arrangement for the visiting delegates to places of...

Needed serious self-introspection among press persons

Guwahati: India observes National Press Day on 16 November with an aim to pay tributes to everyone who contributed to the growth of print media along with its mentor & watchdog the Press Council of India (PCI). Moreover, it’s also an occasion for the practicing media persons to introspect seriously over their noble profession where it has been heading in the post-Covid-19 pandemic era. Since its inception and functioning, the PCI continues to symbolize a free and responsible press in the largest democracy in the world. Among all press or media councils, functioning in various countries, the PCI is recognised as a unique entity that exercises authority over the media and also safeguards...

Dissecting Assam NRC for better understanding

Participating in a debate on satellite television or digital channels needs some homeworks to make the deliberations short and clear. Unless you face an arrogant anchor and unruly participants, the experience in talk shows normally emerges as an intriguing one. It happened to me, as I had recently participated in a digital media discussion on the pertinent issue of National Register of Citizens  (NRC) in Assam, where the prime guest was none other than the immediate past State NRC coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma. The talk show host Dikshit Sharma put the questions in a clever way so that the issue comes alive and my part was just to interpret Dev Sarma’s version for clarity to the valued...

Silver Jubilee carnival for Kaliabor Press Club

Guwahati: It was an amazing experience to attend the foundation day of a 25 year old press club in central Assam on a lazy Sunday, where a number of senior citizens along with rural scribes and novice journalists were waiting to listen to my speech. It’s easier to address a journalist’s meet- where we can discuss many issues with liberties, but while the audience includes respected senior citizens and young people, it becomes a difficult task to speak to them together. First, the question that arises, how much should I highlight the eroding credibility of the mainstream media around India in general and Assam in particular and secondly what may be the role of social (alternate/digital)...