Players await Panjab University sports calendar

Tribune News Service

Deepankar Sharda

Chandigarh, August 2

With the admission process having started at Panjab University (PU) and its affiliated colleges, sportspersons are eagerly waiting for the release of the annual sports calendar to start preparing for various events.

Last year, the Directorate of Sports, PU, had released its annual sports calendar in August. The tournaments had started in October.

This year, the admission process has been delayed by a month and the sports events are likely to start early (before October) — the reason for the players’ demand for an early release of the inter-college sports schedule. “We have started the admission process and the calendar for conducting inter-college championships should have been released in advance. The teams have to prepare in accordance with the annual sports calendar,” said a senior functionary of a local college.

The authorities claimed that the calendar would be issued after the announcement of the inter-varsity championships by the Associations of Indian Universities (AIU). “We have to wait for the AIU calendar before announcing our schedule,” said a senior official of the Directorate of Sports, PU.

However, another senior functionary of a college said, “Last year, the PU announced a tentative calendar without waiting for the AIU schedule. They could have done the same this year also. Moreover, the PU doesn’t follow the AIU while announcing its admission process. So, there has to be a way to ease the procedure for the players.”

“The calendar should be made public, so that the players can start working on it. For inter-university championships, the camps can be rescheduled accordingly,” said Anant, a boxer.

Who will conduct championships?

In the absence of a regular Director (Sports), questions are being raised as to who will be assigned the responsibility of conducting the inter-college championships. The Directorate of Sports is headed by Prof Prashant Gautam under additional charge, and he is already struggling to fill key posts in the department. In April, Dr Rakesh Malik, one of the deputy directors and man-to-go for such championships, had joined as Director (Sports) at Dr Harisingh Gour Central University, Sagar (MP).

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