Sports persons demand facilities

Pushpa is just 12 and is part of Manipur's next generation of sporting powerhouse but her dream to be world champion like many other Manipuri sportsperson such as boxer M C Mary Kom, may get shattered because of inadequate facilities.

Updated on: Apr 11, 2011, 13:15:01 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, Imphal

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Pushpa is just 12 and is part of Manipur's next generation of sporting powerhouse but her dream to be world champion like many other Manipuri sportsperson such as boxer M C Mary Kom, may get shattered because of inadequate facilities.

"I want to be a champion, please help," she told sports minister Ajay Maken in Imphal on Tuesday. "There is no coach and sports equipment is very old."

Pushpa, a kuzushi martial art player, who goes by her first name, was among 300 bidding sportsperson who interacted with Maken at National Sports Academy in Imphal this week and briefed him about the petty problems they face to aspire for their sporting career.

Manipur with a population of less than 0.2 % of India 1.20 billion people was first among Indian states in the recently concluded National Games in Jharkhand. And, its representation in the Asian games was also impressive with three of its boxers winning bronze medals. Such a record also made Maken admit, "Future of Indian sports lies in Manipur".

Most adolescent Manipuri sportspersons, dominated by women, however, gave some hiccups to Maken's prediction when they complained that they are forced to train with outdated equipment and coaches, who themselves need training.

"I am a cyclist but there is no specialized area for cycling," said Rameshwari Devi, who won a gold medal in the recently concluded national games in Ranchi.

Venku Rani complained that her dream of being an international squash player may not materialize as there is no squash court in entire Manipur. Roshan, another girl, did not like sharing her hostel with boys.

Although Maken assured of all help from the Central government he was happily amazed to find enthusiasm for sports especially among girls. All the tough questions came from adolescent girls, which the minister complimented, was a good sign for the Indian sports.

There are several reasons for Sports being big in Manipur. Many sportswomen are local heroes here and the government policy of providing government jobs, in a state of high unemployment, to sportsperson has encouraged women. "More than 60 % of the medals in the national games were won by women and all of them have been assured a job," said a Manipur's sports department official.

Unofficially, sporting is the only activity for people to excel in this insurgent hit state. "Sports is in our culture," said a local coach with Sports Authority of India (SAI).

Devi, 17, who was the oldest of the girls asking questions, want to assure India of sporting glory from Manipur provided the facilities are adequate and they get opportunity to compete in international events. Most officials agreed with her but paucity of funds was a stumbling block.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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