Open house: What should be done to nurture sporting talent in Punjab so that youth can win more medals?

In my view, the following steps should be taken to boost sporting talent in the state. First is to build up proper sports set-up in schools with basic necessities. Secondly, there should be an assurance of annual sports programmes in school. Thirdly, parents should be encouraged to allow their children to take part in sports. Fourthly, various governmental schemes and scholarships should be granted to ensure easy access to sports for the rural community. Finally, sports insurance programmes should be initiated in schools.

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Gundeep Kaur

Open more sports academies in state

To nurture talent in state, more sports academies need to be opened. There should be more inter-city tournaments so that the talent of youth can be explored in sports. Last, but not the least, encouragement should be given to youth to participate in maximum numbers in sports tournaments and join academies, by rewarding the winners with huge incentives in financial terms.

Sanjay Chawla

Set up a body to give sports a boost

Who can forget great sportspersons like Milkha Singh, Balbir Singh, Surjit Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli, Harbhajan Singh, and so many more from Punjab? Punjab always tries to give the best in every field. Punjab made many sacrifices to get independence for India. In sports, Punjab has won so many medals till now. Punjab can give more contribution to get medals in Olympics, Asians Games and World Cups for India. The state should try to find good sportspersons from the villages. Boys and girls there have sportsman's spirit, but they have no proper guidance and diet. The state government should form an honest organisation that will work fairly to select the real sportsmen. The state government should reward those who win at the state, national and international level and provide them with government jobs. If the state government wants more medals, it should pay attention at the ground level. In this way, the state will find wonderful sportspersons and it will also help the youth escape the scourge of drugs.

Sucha Singh Sagar

Increasing medals tally will need funds

All sports require intensive training and right attitude to convert leads into wins. India's participation in Olympics has been good but compared to its vast population, not enough of our players reach the top to win medals. In the ongoing Paris Olympics, only a few of our athletes have found a place on the victory podium. Contrary to the size of our contingent, we are competing in just select events while our presence in athletics, wrestling and boxing has gone down considerably. One of the ominous reasons can be the indignity and low morale of wrestlers caused by government apathy in addressing their grievances raised in a long sit-in at Jantar Mantar. On this account, the players deserved a better deal not just for themselves but to keep alive the national fervour in sports. Notably, there is a clear potential in the country for medals yet our ranking in Olympics is very low. We get very jubilant on bagging 3-4 medals, obviously the need to increase appetite for medals tally is required for which improvement in sports infrastructure and providing world class training facilities for grooming players is vital. Therefore, a big jump in budgetary allocation for sports sector is the need of the hour, but more importantly, it has to be equitable without any political bias to explore nationwide potential for various games. Punjab and Haryana are known to have produced several sportspersons who have brought laurels to the nation. Ironically, the required focus is fading now. Highly deplorable is the fact that most academic institutions pay least attention to sports curriculum as they do not have any ground or stadium for indoor games. As such, the Centre in coordination with the States has to devise a strategic planning and provide a substantial financial outlay to catalyse sports across the country. In addition to monetary assistance from the government, private enterprises and corporates may also be encouraged to sponsor games for improving participation. In a nutshell, it is essential to revitalise sports culture at the grassroot level and ensure increased funding for players for greater exposure at international sporting events. Remember, every win enhances a unified spirit and the glory of the nation worldwide.

Nirmaljit Singh Chatrath

Target sports, not foreign dreams

Provide ample funds and playgrounds as per international standards, coach for different games, motivation to the youths to focus on the game as per their preference, organise district-wise, inter- district-wise and inter-statewise competitions of different games. Punjab has always been known for hockey and this time, the Indian hockey team has fetched a bronze medal. In different categories and games like shooting and wrestling, our neighbouring state Haryana has shown its performance by winning medals. The question arises as to why the youth of Punjab is not favouring sports on priority as their first preference is to fly abroad. Until and unless schools and colleges take interest in motivating the students to take up sports, and also parents, it will not yield the desired results. Encouragement will motivate the students to actively take part in games. Players from Punjab can surely show their presence in Olympics, where there is a will, there is a way. If the Punjab Government takes the initiative seriously for producing international level players, certainly one day we will succeed and win more medals at the next Olympics. The Union Government's 'Khelo India' project has also focused the attention of the youth towards games and the day is not far away when youths from Punjab can show their talent and performance in sporting events at the international level.

Rajat Kumar Mohindru

Initiative needed at the ground level

There is no dearth of sporting talent in our country, especially in Punjab, widely known for leading in all the fields wherein physical strength and competitive challenges are greatly involved. For this, the government has to take strategic initiatives for developing sports culture at the grassroot level. The parents, teachers and society in general have to be actively involved in the process. A massive sports infrastructure has to be developed in all schools and colleges, including those run with government aid. Infrastructure should consist of massive grounds, latest sports equipment, trained sports teachers and latest training facilities with technological advancement in different fields and above all sufficient funds at disposal. Regular tournaments at fixed intervals should be held to encourage the competition with suitable rewards and incentives to the participants.

Jagdish Chander

System does not favour deserving

Throughout history, Indian individuals have repeatedly proved to be praiseworthy and have brought laurels to the country. Still, an inevitable truth with this fact is that they all had to go against the system and burn the midnight oil to even have the slightest of chances, especially in sports. This resulted in less popularity of sports among the newer generation who suppress their talent and dreams due to pressure from society and even their near and dear ones because of excessive hardships and uncertainty of the endeavour. The problem lies with the system which is heavily controlled by corrupt and money-thirsty scouters, who prefer financial and personal benefits over talent and hard work. Unlike our nation, other countries are providing a congenial atmosphere and focus on the growth of the players and motivate them. This is one of the main reasons why countries like the USA, Canada and China stay at the top of the pool in Olympics. This should change in our country and the government should impose fine on officials who try to reap personal benefits from talented and innocent players and prioritise sports throughout the country. One of the steps in this direction can be taken by providing sufficient funds to the teams and the administration along with a log to maintain all the fields where the money is spent to ensure proper and honest expenditure on the betterment of the participants. Funds should be spent on making better javelin throw, soccer, wrestling etc., on sports grounds and getting better jerseys and sports equipment to inspire the masses. In addition to this, schools in India are not taking sports activities seriously and are putting pressure on the youth to focus more on academics. Moreover, students cannot pursue their dreams to follow their talent, they are rather snubbed under the weight of books which mentally traumatises them. All this needs to change and the youth should have a choice to choose their future, based upon their talent and dreams. Schools should balance between academics and physical education to turn the youth into perfect and all-round human beings and not just some lifeless 9-5 workers of the system.

Lakshit Jindal

Question for next week

Even as underage driving remains a common sight, especially outside schools, the traffic police have put on hold the implementation of Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, which was supposed to be enforced from August 1. Should the law enforcement agencies deal with those violating traffic rules strictly, or continue to turn a blind eye ?

Suggestions in not more than 200 words can be sent to amritsardesk@tribunemail.com by Thursday (August 15)