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Sports centres in Ludhiana running at 50% strength
Before pandemic, around 1,700 players were practising in 35 government sports centres in Ludhiana as compared to mere 930 players currently registered with district sport authority here
Despite resumption of sports by the state government last year, only half the number of players under the district’s sports department have returned to their government sports centres.
With the Covid curve falling, the state government had directed the director sports, Punjab, to resume the sports activities in the state from October 11 last year, expecting that the players would be back in their training centres.
Before pandemic, around 1,700 players were practising in 35 government sports centres in Ludhiana as compared to mere 930 players currently registered with district sport authority here.
While the government sports centres for swimming, football, kho-kho, archery, shooting, lawn tennis are majorly struggling to get back their players; games, including gymnastics, hockey and athletics, have still managed to maintain decent strength.
“Since the pandemic shook the globe, sports could never be the same. The stadiums, grounds used to be full as youngsters turned out in large numbers to train but the sports centres don’t have much strength post-Covid as parents are still reluctant to send their children fearing infection. The exam of the students is another factor due to which less players are coming for training,” Ravinder Singh, district sports officer, said.
Financial crunch
Meanwhile, the coaches are struggling to get grants to buy sports equipment for the players.
After resuming sports last year, the state director sports DPS Kharbanda had released a grant of around 8.5 lakh for the purchase of the sports equipment for the sport centres in the state. Ludhiana received a grant of ₹51,900 from the director sports.
“Talking about the least, a good quality football costs around ₹800 and we require at least two footballs for the players in a centre. All the sports are ailing due to the financial crunch. The minute grant released is of no help. The equipment for many games, including cycling and athletics, require huge investments but we don’t have funds. The synthetic track for athletics at Guru Nanak Stadium has got bubbles but we can’t afford to repair that,” said a coach here.
Political interference
Another coach on the condition of anonymity said due to the ego of politicians here, Ludhiana lost an opportunity to include projects such as shooting range, multi-purpose hall for gymnastics and other sports, under the Smart City Development plan.
“Now only the athletic track at Guru Nanak stadium and basketball courts are part of the Smart City projects. We could have created the best sports infrastructure here if the politicians wouldn’t have interfered to settle their egos. Politics should be excluded from Sports if we desire to create champions,” a coach said.
