Synthetic track need of the hour for city athletes: Sunita Rani

Deepankar Sharda

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 1

Former Asian Games gold medallist Sunita Rani said she was surprised by the fact that Chandigarh didn’t have a synthetic track for athletics. The former athlete added that the city needed not one but two synthetics tracks.

“It’s quite surprising that a modern city like Chandigarh doesn’t have a single synthetic track,” the Arjuna Award winner.

“It’s the city of sprinter Milkha Singh and still there is no motivation among the authorities to bring the facility here,” added the Padma Shri. Sunita won the gold medal in the 1500m and the bronze medal in the 5000m in the 2002 Asian Games. 

“In this era of high competition, every region should have at least two synthetic tracks. Even one track won’t solve the purpose,” she said.

The proposal to lay a synthetic track has been stuck in the paperwork stage for the past five years.

“The authorities should understand that to make champions, the decision makers should take ample steps,” Sunita said. “Sportspersons from nearby regions come here to nurture their skills. But it’s hard to believe that the athletes are deprived of the basic right of having a synthetic track,” she added.   The project to introduce an all-weather polyurethane track was announced in 2012. The track was expected to be laid at the North Complex of the Sector 42 Sports Complex. However, the project was scrapped due to unknown reasons. In 2013, after the Bollywood movie ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ was released, the authorities, to honour Milkha Singh, started the process again. But again the initiative fell through. Later, the authorities decided to lay a 10-lane track at the Sector 46 Sports Complex. But lack of space forced the authorities to change it to a seven-lane track. For this purpose, the planning committee highlighted the need to acquire some of the land of a Sector 46 college but no initiative was made to procure the land. Since then, there has been no development on the project.

High hopes from CWG

Talking about the upcoming Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, Sunita said there were high hopes from the Indian athletes. A 31-member Indian contingent will participate in athletics. “I believe the Indian athletes will perform better in the upcoming Commonwealth Games. Suriya L (10000m), Hima Das (200m, 400m and relay) are strong medal contenders in the women’s section, whereas in men’s category, Jinson Johnson (1500m) is also performing well. Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra is also a frontrunner,” said Sunita. “In the previous Commonwealth Games, we won one gold and two bronze medals. However, this year, considering the players’ enthusiasm, I feel that the tally will go up without a doubt.”