PU, colleges face tough time in finding meritorious players

Deepankar Sharda

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 3

As the University Grants Commission (UGC) issued fresh guidelines to start the academic session in September, Panjab University (PU) and its affiliated colleges are likely to face struggle in admitting meritorious sportspersons from other states.

In the past, the admission under the sports quota starts in the second week of July and scouting of players starts in May. The inter-college championships usually begin in August. The delay in the new session will give the PU and colleges a tough time.

Several Tokyo Olympics medals prospects for India, including javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, shooter Anjum Moudgil, are among the PU alumni.

“During this time, we usually receive a plenty of queries. But this year, we haven’t received a call yet. Now that the session is delayed, we have to adjust our calendar with the schedule of other championships. There is no scope for players to move out of their states or cities,” said Gurcharan Singh Gill, Associate Professor Physical Education, Sri Guru Gobind Singh College, Sector 26.

“The examinations are put on hold and there is uncertainty about results. Considering the present situation, if the batch starts in September, we cannot start organising inter-college competetions before November. We are surely going to face troubled in finding good players for the fresh batch,” said Dr Amanendra Mann, Associate Professor Physical Education, DAV College, Sector 10.

The lockdown has also affected summer camps organised by the Directorate of Sports (PU). “Yes, we are unable to organise various summer camps and we cannot really do anything about it. Though we have mostly completed our session for the inter-college championships, there’s still a lot to cover. The C-Division tournaments are also yet to be played,” Dr Parminder Singh (Director Sports) PU.

The Association of Indian Universities will soon issue new guidelines for organising inter-college championships, as the session is cut short by two months.