Barring hockey, other sports fail to make cut for Olympics from holy city Amritsar

Neeraj Bagga

Amritsar, July 23

Except for hockey, no player from any other sports discipline was chosen for the Olympics this time from this border district. The representation of the district in the national pool in other sports disciplines has hitherto remained significant.

Amritsar has been a good platform for sending youngsters to the Olympics and other international-level sports competitions, especially in hockey, athletics, track and field events. This time, the representation was limited only to hockey. Many reasons could be attributed for this, prime being a dearth of playgrounds and coaches in the holy city. Young players are discouraged from joining their favourite games as neither properly trained coaches nor playgrounds are available here.

The District Sports Office has 20 coaches to train youngsters. The strength of the coaches is insufficient as they do not cater to all sports disciplines. There are several games like gymnastics, swimming, athletics and others which require multiple coaches to reach out to budding players.

Similarly, no noticeable sports ground was added to the city which has been expanding fast. The unveiling of an eight-acre multipurpose indoor and outdoor sports complex in the Ranjit Avenue area in 2010 was expected to bridge the gap. However, about 14 years later, various dignitaries inaugurated the ground but actual work never took off.

Veteran players said these gaps have cost dear as the representation of sports persons in the Olympics and other international events is declining from this border district.

City-based Maharaja Ranjit Singh Hockey Academy tries to tap players at a young age and provides quality players to the national hockey team. These are the reasons why five players of the district were selected to represent the country in this edition of the Olympics and six hockey players had donned the Indian colours in the previous Tokyo Olympics. Other sports disciplines do not find representation.

The district has been known for producing athletes of international repute. For instance, Gurbachan Singh Randhawa, born in Amritsar’s Nangli village is a former Indian athlete who won a gold medal at the 1962 Asian Games in decathlon. He had participated in the 1960 and 1964 Olympics in 110 hurdles, high jump and decathlon.

Khushbir Kaur, born in Amritsar’s Rasulpur Kalan village, took part in the 2016 Rio Olympics and secured 54th position in the 20-km race walk.

Arjuna awardee Suman Sharma is a former Indian basketball player, who hails from Amritsar. Gurjeet Kaur, born in Miadi Kalan village, is an ace drag-flicker. It can only be hoped that the tradition of nurturing and producing talent continues.