A first, Sports Director to meet representatives of local assns

Deepankar Sharda

Chandigarh, January 18

In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the Director Sports, UT, will organise a meeting with office-bearers of all local sports associations for a better outcome in terms of improving sports in the city.

The meeting is yet to be scheduled, but it has been decided to bring all stakeholders under one roof and address common problems.

“The meeting will be held soon. The only objective of the meeting is to have better coordination among all stakeholders. It will aim towards promotion and betterment of sports in Chandigarh,” said Sorabh Kumar Arora, Director Sports.

In recent times, various sports associations, including Chandigarh Olympic Association (COA), have raised concerns over the Administration giving special treatment to selective sports associations.

This meeting may give a chance to the Sports Department to assess some associations, which failed to conduct tournaments despite being affiliated with the department. In Chandigarh, sports tourneys and promotion are handled by three bodies — Sports Department, local sports associations and sports wing of the Education Department. All three bodies share technical support, infrastructure and technical support, but still there are many differences between the stakeholders. Perhaps, it will be for the first time that such a meeting will be organised by the Sports Department.

Office bearers of various associations, including archery, athletics, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, canoe/kayak, cricket, cycling, fencing, football, golf, gymnastics, handball, hockey, judo, kabaddi, kho-kho, rowing, shooting, softball, skating, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, volleyball, weightlifting and wrestling, are likely to attend this meeting.

“It’s a welcome step by the Sports Department. However, such meetings should be organised on a quarterly basis to get feedback from the associations. Such meetings will also help the Sports Department to keep a check on the activities of many associations, which are doing nothing for promoting sports,” said a spokesperson for a local association.