More sports academies in the offing

Deepankar Sharda
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 23 

The UT Sports Department is likely to set up day-boarding and residential academies for various sports disciplines in the city. A blueprint is being prepared in this regard and it will be discussed with the higher authorities soon. If approved, these academies will be opened in the next session.

At present, the department is running residential academies for football, hockey and cricket. However, local players have not benefitted much from these academies since their inception in 2000.

In order to provide a level-playing field for the athletes of other sports and extend the platform to local players, the department is now planning to institute new day-boarding and residential academies in the city.

“We have been working on this project and are on the verge of completing our homework. After this, the project will be submitted to the higher authorities and if approved, these academies will start soon,” said Sports Director Tejdeep Singh Saini.

In the past few years, coaches of other sports disciplines have been vehemently demanding residential academies on the pattern of the Chandigarh Football and Hockey Academies. A majority of them are of the view that the Sports Department is only focused on promoting football, hockey and cricket in the city and they are neglecting other disciplines. 

“Things need to be streamlined. Their demands are genuine, that is why we are working on it,” Saini said. He, however, refused to divulge details of the project.

The three existing academies mostly cater to players from outside Chandigarh. The recent trend suggests that players from the Northeast are preferred for the football academy, while those from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are recruited in the hockey academy. The recruitment pattern for the cricket academy is no different.

The UT Administration spends for the lodging of these players for a span of seven years. Interestingly, there are 114 government schools, seven government-aided schools and 74 recognised private schools under the local administration, apart from the seven Central Government schools, but not even a single local player finds a place in these academies.

“It’s a good thing that the department is planning to lift the status of other sports too,” said a coach. “For the past 18 years, the department focused only on these academies. But it is disheartening that no local player has been able to play at the highest level. This step will be a boost for players of other sports. In a city like Chandigarh, it’s not difficult to run day-boarding or residential academies,”  he added.