DIY: Nagaland village builds indoor stadium to host 9-village wrestling meet

Kohima: Not having an indoor stadium is not going to stop locals of Thipüzu Village, under Phek district of Nagaland, from hosting a mega wrestling meet for nine villages.

Located about 52 kms from Kohima, residents of Thipüzu Village took it upon themselves to build a temporary indoor stadium with a seating capacity of around 5,000 to boot. The village is now all set to host the 29th Chokri Area Wrestling Association meet on Thursday.   

And as expected, the Do It Yourself (DIY) indoor stadium by the villagers is winning hearts.

Veshuzo, the management chairman of the wrestling meet, told EastMojo that the 210×210 feet stadium is made of bamboo, wood, greenhouse nets, and tarpaulin. He estimated that about 1,800 metres of greenhouse nets were used to build the rooftop, while about 100 kg tarpaulin was used to construct the walls of the stadium. 

The awe-inspiring structure, Veshuzo said, was the result of the hard work of about 30 local workers headed by Medove Tetseo, who took about 14 days to build the stadium without a blueprint. 

Ahead of starting the construction work, it took about 230 villagers to carry the construction goods such as bamboo and wood to the site of construction for about 4 days. 

While a wrestling arena is built in the centre, he said the venue will accommodate less than the estimated 5,000 seating capacity. However, after the wrestling meet, the villagers will be hosting a religious congregation at the same stadium, which will host 24 villages. 

Tetseo told EastMojo that the temporary stadium was built to prevent the sun’s rays from entering the venue.

Following the wrestling meet and the religious convention, the temporary stadium, built at a cost of less than Rs 1,00,000, will be dismantled. He added that the bamboo and wood used to build the stadium was locally sourced. 

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