Chandigarh yet to announce annual sports calendar

Deepankar Sharda

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 24

While various local associations conducted championships which benefitted hundreds of city players, the UT Education Department is yet to announce the annual sports calendar for the benefit of the government school students.

The players, who participated in the championships organised by the state associations, got an opportunity to take the advantage of the gradation policy. However, those studying in government schools are still awaiting the department’s decision on conducting inter-school championships.

Since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic last year, the department has failed to conduct any tournament.

Officials, meanwhile, said the plan to conduct championships in coming months was ready. However, as the exams are approaching, it may take another month to conduct any tournament.

“Yes, we are planning or I must say, the plan is almost ready. After discussing it with the higher authorities, we will announce the calendar. Other institutions have started the preparation and so should we. A plan will be discussed with the Director Public Instructions (DPI) schools in the coming days,” said a senior official of the Education Department.

Sources claimed that before taking any decision, the department observed the steps taken by Haryana and Punjab in this regard.

“The Covid situation in Chandigarh is different from Haryana and Punjab. The officials should consider the local situation before taking any decision. Both the states are perhaps not conducting gradation of tournaments, so the UT Administration should also not do it. Some players are getting proper advantage, while others are being totally ignored. If not for team games, the department can start conducting individual events,” said a senior coach.

“The department should at least prepare a tentative calendar so that players/coaches can start preparing. If there’s no activity in all these months, then what duty officials are performing? They should work on having off season camps or conducting some tournaments so as to bring things back to normal slowly. If not for smaller age groups, competitions for U-19 year age groups should be organised so that the winners can get gradation benefits,” said another coach.