Ahmedabad: After India’s Under-17 football squad powered its way to the finals of the Asian Cup on Sunday, Dallalmuon Gangte and Gunleiba Wangkheirakpam sent a strong message back home to Manipur. It was that it’s better to fight together for the country rather than engage in sectarian violence against each other.
Gangte is a Kuki while Wangkheirakpam is from the Meitei community. The two communities have been engaged in violent strife in Manipur over the last two-and-a-half years.
On Sunday, the Indian U-17 football team scripted history by beating a formidable Iranian side 2-1. Gangte and Wangkheirakpam were the goal scorers for India. India has entered the Asian Cup finals only for the third time in 20 years. The finals will be played in Saudi Arabia next year.
Iran scored first in the 19th minute. Just before half-time, Gangte, equalised with a penalty. Then, forward Wangkheirakpam struck the winner on a counter-attack, sealing India’s 2-1 victory and qualification.
In Manipur, where ethnic clashes since May 2023 have claimed over 250 lives and displaced more than 60,000 people, there continues to remain a divide between the two communities.
While Meitei community pages on social media hailed their boy, the Kuki pages celebrated their player, notwithstanding that the goals they scored were for India.
There were some handles that spoke of peace.
“Congratulations Team India. Interestingly, the two goals for India were scored by a Kuki and Meitei (D Gangte and G Wangkheirakpam) to qualify for AFC U17 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2026,” Meitei Heritage Society posted on X.
“Sports Unite. Let’s hope Peace Comes To Our State Manipur Soon!”, it added.
There are nine players from Manipur —seven Meiteis and two Kukis – in the official 23-member squad announced by the All India Football Federation.
Football continues to remain a popular sport in Manipur. In the relief camps that still dot Imphal valley and the hills of Churachandpur, Tengnoupal and Kangpokpi, football remains that one activity that needs no permission from security forces or the authorities.
Children can be seen playing football barefeet inside camp compounds.
In Imphal, where grounds lay deserted during the first year after the conflict, matches have now resumed, according to social media posts.
Gangte and Wangkheirakpam have brought hope to their communities and the whole state where more than 58,000 people still live in 351 relief camps spread all across. An invisible line still divides Manipur, separated by buffer zones guarded by central forces.
Travel between the two sides is almost impossible. Kukis from Churachandpur must take a 10-hour detour to Aizawl airport instead of the one-hour drive to Imphal. Meiteis face the same restrictions in the opposite direction.
President’s Rule, imposed in February 2025, continues. But peace is still faraway as more than 3,000 looted firearms remain unrecovered.
In the camps, families live in tarpaulin cubicles. Water is scarce, hygiene is poor. Children have lost years of schooling; many show signs of trauma and depression. Six suicides were reported in relief camps in 2025 alone.
