Players, coaches happy with budgetary announcements
Players and coaches are happy with the budgetary announcements for playgrounds and indoor gyms for every village in Punjab. At the same time they are also cautious as previous announcements by the AAP government have remained unfulfilled.
Majha in general and Amritsar in particular have been acclaimed as a powerhouse of sportspersons. Distinguished athletes, hockey players, cricketers, wrestlers, tennis and players from many other sports disciplines have come from these two areas. A cross section of them whom the Amritsar Tribune spoke appreciated allocation of Rs 979 crore for “Khed-Da Punjab Badalda Punjab” initiative.
"Although there is shortage of sports infrastructure in villages, there is no dearth of talent. All we need is to provide rural youth grounds, sports material and coaches to tap their potential."
Ranjit Singh, Kabaddi coach
"Government support is completely missing for wrestling in the rural areas. The budgetary announcements if implemented could do wonders in the field of wrestling."
Bhupinder Ajnala, Wrestler
Kabaddi coach Ranjit Singh, who happens to be president of the Amritsar Kabaddi, daily trains at least 80 players, including 35 girls, all above 14 years of age at a centre located at Harsha Chinna village in Ajnala border sub-division. His trained team did wonders when after 18 years Punjab Kabaddi team won bronze medal in the senior national that concluded on February 23 in Odisha.
Welcoming the move, he said there was shortage of infrastructure in villages while there was no dearth of talent. “All we need to provide rural youth grounds, material and coaches to tap their potential,” he said.
His centre has produced some international and several national players in the game which has its origin in Punjab countryside. Rajbir Singh was among the 20 best players chosen across India, who participated in the junior national kabaddi championship held last year. The centre has produced 25 national and six sub-junior (U-16) national players.
Wrestler Bhupinder Ajnala, 36, who is running an academy at his native Bholion village, where he trains 30 youngsters keen to carve out their career in the field said, “The government support is completely missing for wrestling in the rural areas. The announcement if implemented could do wonders in wrestling.”
A retired coach IS Bajwa, while stressing on the need to honour the budgetary announcement recalled that the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports had launched the Panchayat Yuva Krida Aur Khel Abhiyan (PYKKA) scheme to promote sports infrastructure and competitions in villages and block panchayats, while encouraging sports and games in the rural areas through annual competitions, when MS Gill was the Union Sports Minister.
A Union Government initiative, it provided basic sports infrastructure, sports equipment, Kridashrees or sports volunteers for each centre, starting from blocks, districts, state and the national level. Provisions of the ambitious plan were rarely implemented in this part of the country, said Bajwa. The provincial government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann must ensure its implementation to elicit a favourable result in sports in the future, he said.
