A mixed bag of several firsts, held-up projects & controversies

Some unfulfilled promises, some controversies and some beautiful memories; the year 2024 was a mixed bag for sports in the tricity.

Advertisement

In a first, Indian Premier League (IPL) matches were played at the Maharaja Yadvindra Punjab Cricket Association International Stadium, Mullanpur, while national championships were held at Panchkula and Chandigarh by the Athletics Federation of India. A national ranking tournament was held here by the Badminton Association of India and sub-junior national meet by Hockey India. Punjab players were grabbed at IPL auctions. Punjab Kings spent the highest amount to pick an entire new squad.

Another year has passed, and the Chandigarh Administration has failed to appoint the District Sports Officer (DSO). Nevertheless, the department got a new Joint Director Sports (JDS), after the first ever JDS from Himachal Pradesh wished to return to his cadre.

Significant events

After a gap of four years, Panjab University got a new Director Sports with the appointment of Rakesh Malik, the former Deputy Director in the same office.

Several PCA players were picked by IPL franchisees. Arshdeep Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Harpreet Singh and Harnoor Pannu were taken by Punjab Kings, Mumbai Indians took Naman Dhir, Mayank Markande went to Kolkata Knight Riders, Gujarat Titans picked Gurnoor Singh Brar and Mumbai Indians bought Ashwani Kumar. Chandigarh’s Raj Angad Bawa was selected by Mumbai Indians.

The badminton hall at the Sector 42 Sports Complex, the weightlifting and boxing coaching centres become the first air-conditioned indoor facilities of their respective sport in the city.

Chandigarh Golf Association (CGA) under which the Chandigarh Golf Range operates amended constitution after many members called upon a meeting and demanded to hold elections. As per the new amendment, the management decided to include 25 range members in the CGA general body.

Many players (directly and indirectly associated with the tricity), including Anjum Moudgil, Raiza Dhillon, Bhajan Kaur, Arjun Babuta, Sanjay, Reetika Hooda, Akashdeep Singh, Palak Kohli, Yash, Aruna Tanwar participated in the Paris Olympics and the Paris Paralympics.

Arshdeep Singh takes the maximum wickets in the T20 World Cup.

Chandigarh’s first hockey Olympian Sukhbir Singh Gill passed away at the age 48. Courageously fighting an aggressive brain tumour, Gill breathed his last at his residence in Sector 49.

The projects of converting the Sector 39 swimming pool into an all-weather facility, taking over the old Sector 17 football stadium, which comes under Urban Park, UT Administration, developing a full-fledged skating rink as the Sector 10 facility is unfit for speed skating, a full-sized swimming pool, revamped gyms at all coaching centres and taking over under-constructed cue sports centres at the Sector 42 Sports Complex continued to hang fire during the year.

Partialities (giving space on lease to cricket and tennis associations) om promoting a handful of sports associations continued in 2024.

At the end of year, the department launched an online portal to simplify the procedure for getting membership of sports complexes in Chandigarh. The project was on the cards since July 2022. Earlier this year, 18 posts were revived in order to strengthen the working force of the Chandigarh Sports Department and Chandigarh Sports Council.

The year brought nothing new for the Chandigarh Olympic Association (COA). The old rivalry between two groups continued. The promise of hosting the Chandigarh State Games (not hosted for almost two decades now) remained on papers. However, the office-bearers didn’t forget to do politics on it and levelled accusations against each other. In short—the COA mess continued for another year.

Some associations continued their supremacy by using political influence. Many office-bearers of the local associations enjoyed full support of the Administration and continued holding important positions in some committees formed for giving suggestions to the UT Administrator. The demand for new infrastructure was raised once again in 2024.

‘Overage’ players

Another important issue that rocked the year was of ‘overage’ players. The Union Territory Cricket Association (UTCA), Chandigarh, was guided by parents to catch few ‘overage’ players. On other hand, the Administration was forced to postpone an entire tournament (20th All India Administrator’s Football Challenge Cup) on ‘indictment’ for allowing overage players. A parent, who filed a complaint against coaches of the UT Sports Department for adopting favouritism while picking players in the Chandigarh Football Academy, approached the court. The department had to postpone the tournament after failing to conduct the medical tests of nearly 300 players in the given short period. Interestingly, no medical examination was demanded for the Chandigarh football team, which left for Jammu to play in a national event and had some players who were to play the Challenge Cup.

Mullanpur on ‘national’ map

Under planning for a decade, Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium at Mullanpur finally hosted five IPL matches. Fans were irked over approach roads and parking facilities and asked for better facilities for the future events at the stadium. It was for the first time that the stadium hosted an important event. It is yet to host an international match.