Centre’s Helps Boost Sports In Himachal

Bhupinder Singh

(The writer is national athletics coach)

Sports Authority of India (SAI) has opened sports hostel in Dharmashala and Bilaspur to give impetus to sports in Himachal Pradesh. Besides this, SAI has also opened extension counters in different parts of the state as per talent and facility available. An extension centre of hockey is going to be opened at Indira Stadium in Una on the recommendation of Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur. The government has already laid astroturf in this stadium through SAI. Besides this a football extension centre is also coming up at Government Senior Secondary School in Una’s Nagnoli block, known as football nursery.

Previous government had constructed synthetic track for athletics in Government College, Hamirpur that has maintained its dominance at university level for the last three decades. The athletics stars from this college has won medals for the state at national level almost every year. Pushpa Thakur was the first Himachali women to bring Himachal in medals tally in senior national athletics championship in sprint race category. Besides this, thrower Sanjo Devi of this college became national winner in Javelin throw. Here too SAI extension counter ran for certain period and then was closed. This facility has now again been revived there.

SAI has given extension counter of hockey in Government Senior Secondary School, Bal in Hamirpur district. This school is renowned for hockey. Besides this SAI will soon open wrestling extension centre in Minerva Senior Secondary School, Ghumarwin and badminton extension counter in Kapoor Badminton Academy in Jawalamukhi. The extension centre of athletics is functioning at Jogindernagar in Mandi district and extension centre of kabaddi is running at Sirda in Sundernagar. For boxing, SAI’s extension centre is running at Maharaja Laksman Sen College in Sundernagar. Boxers from this centre are winning medals for the state at national level for almost last two decades. Deputy Commissioner Mandi Sandeep Kadam gave major contribution in bringing SAI’s athletic extension centre in Jogindernagar and boxing extension centre in Sundernagar. But still there are many institutes in Himachal Pradesh where need for SAI extension centres is felt. Himachal has given all four MPs to BJP and at centre too they are running the government. Therefore it is expected that they will bring in more facility to improve the condition of sports in Himachal.

There is staying facility too besides synthetic track in Hamirpur. Therefore SAI’s sports hostel for athletics at this place could bring excellent results in athletics for state. Similarly sports hostel for hockey can come up at Una too. SAI once had decided to close sports hostel in Dharamshala. But after construction synthetic track, this sports hostel has given excellent results in athletics. No doubt, sports is a state subject. But with Himachal’s low budget for sports, much facility cannot be developed for sports. Therefore maximum help from centre should be sought if it is available.

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