A total of 896 athletes from various districts participated in the trials of Punjab state teams for four sport disciplines for the fourth edition of the Khelo India Youth Games here on Saturday.
Various sports activities in the under-18 category will be held in the games, which will be held from February 5 to 14, 2022, in Panchkula, Haryana.
The Ludhiana sports department hosted trials for state girls’ and boys’ teams of kabaddi and basketball and boys’ state teams for football and handball on Saturday.
While the trials of kabaddi, football, and basketball were held at Guru Nanak Stadium, the trials for handball were held at Punjab Agricultural University.
In basketball, 50 players each participated in the trials conducted for state boys’ and girls’ teams.
Meanwhile, in kabaddi, a total of 185 boys and 80 girls participated in the trials.
As many as 110 boys participated in handball trials, and 421 boys participated in the football trials. However, the football trials may continue on Monday before the final selection of the state team, said an official.
The registrations of the players commenced at 11 am. The trials were held under the chairmanship of Ludhiana district sports officer (DSO) Ravinder Singh.
{{/usCountry}}The registrations of the players commenced at 11 am. The trials were held under the chairmanship of Ludhiana district sports officer (DSO) Ravinder Singh.
{{/usCountry}}Coaches and senior sports officers from various districts including, DSO, Kapurthala reached Ludhiana to assist in the trials. A few players returned disappointed as they failed to provide the required documents for registration.
A few players suffered injuries during football and kabaddi trials and were given timely first aid by the district sports department.
However, players complained that no refreshments were provided to them.
“We reached the ground at around 8:30 am from Bathinda. Since then, we didn’t get any refreshments, and we couldn’t leave the venue to go eat outside out of fear of missing out on the selection,” said a football player.
Meanwhile, senior sports officials including, Teja Singh Dhaliwal, general secretary, Punjab Basketball Association (PBA), expressed annoyance at the eligibility criteria set by the Khelo India management.
As per the circular released by the senior director, Khelo India, any athlete born on or after January 1, 2003, is eligible for participation. Moreover, it said that the birth certificate should have been issued on or before November 21, 2016, by MC/Gram Panchayat.
“It is not right to allow a player to submit his birth certificate which he got prepared even after 13 years of his birth ie till 2016. The birth certificate made within three years of birth should be considered valid. Now many over-aged players can participate in these games by manipulating their birth certificates,” said Teja Singh.
The trials for hockey will be held at Lyallpur Khalsa College in Jalandhar on November 6.