Water shortage during school games

Deepender Deswal

Sportspersons had to bear with the lack of facilities and mismanagement during the district school games organised in the Mahavir Stadium in Hisar town from August 11 to 13. Competitions in various sports such as basketball, throw ball, netball, athletics etc were held. 

A visit to the stadium revealed the lack of proper arrangements for the participants. There were no arrangements of adequate drinking water supply for the players in the stadium. Though the organisers had arranged water tankers, the demand of water exceeded supply. Thus, players had to go to the adjoining Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agriculture University campus to fetch water in their bottles. 

The stadium also did not have proper facilities for organising such sports events. The athletics track was not up to the mark and iron nails, which are left uncollected on the ground after official functions, posed a threat to players. An athlete, Ashish, who practises regularly in the stadium, says that nails are left on the ground after official functions. “The district administration designates the stadium for organising many events throughout the year but the contractors, who are given the tender for making arrangements such as tents, do not clean the entire ground. Metal items such as nails are left on the ground,” he says. 

The heat wave also takes a toll on the players in the absence of a covered space for taking rest when they are not participating in games. An official says that they always make proper arrangements of every facility such as drinking water for the players.