New Delhi, Mar 22 (IANS): The inaugural edition of the Northeast Judo Championship for the IIS-Sangai Cup will be held in Imphal from March 31 to April 2, the organisers announced on Wednesday.

The Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) announced that the Judo championships in association with the Manipur Judo Association (MJA), will be held as per the International Judo Federation (IJF) and Judo Federation of India (JFI) contest rules and regulations and the sports code at the SAI Complex, Takyelpat.

The tournament will have sub-junior, cadet, and junior age groups.

Speaking about the competition Rushdee Warley, CEO of Inspire Institute of Sport said,"The IIS-Sangai cup is the first step in the direction of building a robust ecosystem for the judo program. The Northeast has always been the hotbed of sporting talent for all kinds of sports, especially Judo. The tournament will help us dig deeper into the sea of talent that Manipur and the entirety of the region have to offer.

"Further, we will be sending some of our best scouts to the tournament to analyse and understand the abilities of these judokas and at the same time induct them into our collaborative judo programme," he added.

"While the tournament is only the beginning of greater things to come in the future, it will certainly attract more Judokas from the region to enrol and be a part of the collaborative judo programme. IIS has laid down a perfect roadmap for further developing the raw talent that exists in the state of Manipur and we are working together towards that end. We are looking forward to a successful tournament," said Soibam Indrakumar, General Secretary MJA.