Panjab University hopeful of conducting championships this year: Director

Deepankar Sharda

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 23

After a gap of a year, the Directorate of Sports, Panjab University, will try to conduct inter-college championships after the admission process is over, said Prashant Kumar Gautam, Director, Sports (PU).

Sportspersons of Panjab University and its affiliated colleges have been eagerly waiting for playing inter-college championships as last year, not even a single tournament was conducted due to the pandemic.

Even the academic session has been delayed. However, the authorities are positive about conducting championships from August. “Yes, we will surely try to conduct championships this year. Our sportspersons have already faced a huge loss as there was no tournament in the last session. Once the admissions get over, we will initiate the process and announce our annual calendar,” said Gautam. “We have to be extra cautious in announcing these championships in view of the probable third wave of Covid in the coming weeks,” he added.

Last year, the department had announced it would conduct championships in the first week of November. However, the process was delayed by 15 days due to the extension of the admission process. Later in December, the plans were further postponed due to the online exams. The first lot of inter-college competitions was scheduled for the first week of November 2020 and entries were invited till October 15. In July, the department had released their annual sports calendar for all affiliated colleges of Punjab and Chandigarh.

Meanwhile, authorities are also expecting some announcement from the Associations of Indian Universities (AIU) in terms of conducting championships.

“The Panjab University follows AIU’s schedule of intervarsity championships for conducting their inter-college championships. The schedule is expected to arrive by August,” said a source.

While the department is positive about conducting these championships, there are a few experts who believe that it will not be an easy task. “The department has to give ample time to all affiliated colleges to gather their teams before starting the tourneys. Also, hosting these championships will be a trouble for colleges considering the availability of resources,” said a coach.