Shillong leg

Lieutenant General Mohit Wadhwa SM: Wailadmiki Shylla, Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs, Government of Meghalaya, welcomed the Trophy Tour of the 135th Durand Cup to Shillong on Saturday, as the football-loving state received the tournament's three iconic trophies following their ceremonial flag-off by Hon'ble President of India Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre in New Delhi earlier this month.

The ceremony was also attended by Lieutenant General Mohit Wadhwa SM, General Officer Commanding, 101 Area; Air Marshal Devendra P. Hirani, YSM VSM, Senior Air Staff Officer, Eastern Air Command; Major General D.K. Singh SM VSM, General Officer Commanding, Bengal Sub Area and Vice Chairman, Durand Cup Organising Committee; Major General Jai Singh Bainsla SM, Additional Director General, Assam Rifles; Smt. Isawanda Laloo IAS, Secretary, Sports and Youth Affairs Department, Government of Meghalaya; Idashisha Nongrang IPS, Director General of Police, Meghalaya; John F. Kharshiing, Working President, Meghalaya State Olympic Association; and Hamletson Dohling, President, Meghalaya Football Association, along with senior civil and military officials, representatives of participating clubs, and members of the football fraternity.

The ceremony celebrated Meghalaya's rich footballing heritage while formally inaugurating the Trophy Tour's journey through the first of the tournament's five host cities. The programme featured a presentation on the rich legacy of the Durand Cup, a special screening of the President of India's Trophy Unveiling and Flag-off Ceremony held earlier this month at Rashtrapati Bhavan, a choir performance by the 15-member Khmih Creative Society, the ceremonial showcase of the tournament's three iconic trophies, the Durand Cup, the President's Cup and the Simla Trophy and an exchange of mementoes between the dignitaries before the trophy convoy was flagged off.