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Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy

PU to axe 17 sports disciplines

CHANDIGARH:With the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs deciding to acknowledge only affiliated sport events for the prestigious Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy, the Punjab University is set to axe 17 sports disciplines from the list of inter-college championships.

PU to axe 17 sports disciplines

The Sports Ministry has changed the marking system for the award of MAKA Trophy.



Deepankar Sharda

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 11

With the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs deciding to acknowledge only affiliated sport events for the prestigious Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy, the Punjab University is set to axe 17 sports disciplines from the list of inter-college championships. As a result, the future of players associated with these games has been put at stake.

The affected players are running from pillar to post to get admissions to various courses, but only to be turned back by the colleges.  

As per sources, 17 events — American football (men/ women), ball badminton (men/women), baseball (women), circle style kabaddi (men/women), drop ball (men/ women), e-sports (men/ women), floor ball (men/ women), gatka (men/women), hockey 5s (men/women), kick boxing (men/women), netball (men), roll ball (men/women), roller sports (men/women), roller hockey (men/women), softball (men), tug of war (men) an yoga (men) — will 

be excluded from the list 

of competition. 

“I am seeking admission to a Sector 32 based college, however, I have been told to come after 10 days as things are not clear so far,” said Arun, a city-based softball player.  “The Panjab University authorities are working on the issue and have put us on hold. Let’s see if we can get admission under the sports quota,” he added.  

“From the past eight years, we have been winning top hours for the universities, but this year, the authorities have put us on hold. The events that witness mass participation should be entertained at least till college level,” said Anup Bhardwaj, a netball player.  

As per the new orders, amended on July 7, the MAKA Trophy will be awarded to those universities who will claim maximum points against achievements in only those events which are a part of the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games or the Asian Games. Chess, kho-kho and cricket have been included in the list on the basis of their popularity.

Even as the Panjab University is looking to make a change to the list of competition, the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) has announced the schedule for the sports disciplines which are on the institution’s exclusion list.    

“The AIU authorities should initiate a strong action at the earliest so that players can find some alternative. It’s not possible to follow two set of rules in the same organisation,” said a PU Sports Department official. 

The entire process of inviting applications and shortlisting the winner for the MAKA Trophy was taken over by the Sports Ministry last month with an aim to create a level playing field for all the universities.


Change in points system

Now the marks will be awarded for tournaments held more than once a year. For the team events, the marks will be considered on the strength of the squad. Also, if a team comprises members from different universities, like in the Olympics, the total marks of the team will be divided equally among its members and assigned to a particular university as per the number of players in the  team.

Creating awareness

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is likely to allot a separate fund of Rs 20 lakh per year for creating awareness to increase the participation of various universities in the championships.

Previous conditions

Only those sports disciplines recognised by the Sports Ministry will be taken into account for calculation of marks. Any new sports discipline included in the scheme will be kept under observation for first three years without assigning any marks. E-sports and sports like American football, circle style kabaddi, gatka, hockey 5s and Korfball, which have not been recognised by the Ministry, may be retained only as demonstration sports.

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