Is quantity, or even short-term success, redemption enough for quality? This is a question that dogs the administration of Sports Authority of India (SAI), which, despite its alleged pitfalls, has managed to script a few success stories in sports.

It was in 1986, 20-odd years ago, SAI, a Government of India initiative to promote sports in the country, set its foot on Ranchi. It began its journey from St Ignatius High School in Gumla and Government Girls’ High School, Bariatu, establishing NSTC residential centres for boys playing football and hockey in Gumla and girls playing hockey in Bariatu.

Both these centres turned out to be successful with the Gumla boys making their mark right away and the Bariatu centre producing around 50 players who played for the country and the state.

In 1990, the Special Area Games (SAG) centre of SAI was established at Birsa Munda Stadium, Morabadi, as a residential centre for hockey (boys and girls), volleyball (girls), archery (boys and girls), and athletics (boys and girls).

In August, 2006, SAI added football training for girls in the SAG-SAI centre. Five months down the line, both the boys and girls did the centre proud by winning the under-17 national school games in both the categories.

Athletics, too, has been a happy hunting ground for trainees of the SAG-SAI centre with Anmol Ratan Tete bringing home the crowning glory winning the 4x400 metre relay at the junior athletic meet in Malaysia. Parimal Modi, in high jump and hurdles, and Anil Kujur, in medium and long-distance runs, too made their mark, Sushil Kumar Verma, administrator-cum-state coordinator, said.

Till now, there are 26 SAI coaches manning eight SAI centres across the state. Of these, four are non-residential centres. SAI is now considering proposals for opening gymnastics, table tennis, lawn tennis and cricket centres at the SAG-SAI centre at Birsa Stadium, Morabadi. Another centre at Dumka (for archery, athletics and football), a centre (for football and athletics) at Bokaro, and a third once (for athletics, football and wrestling) at Palamau are in the offing.

But will mere numbers make up for the shortcomings, which the existing centres are grappling with? Will more centres translate on the field more success stories on the national and international stages?

If the present scenario is anything to go by, there doesn’t seem to be much of a hope. For starters, none of the centres has a full time doctor, a sports medicine specialist, or a physiotherapist. So if a budding sportsperson suffers from even a minor ailment like a sprained ankle or a painful knee, he is left to fend for himself, or, at best, at the behest of a general physician.

And the consequences can be devastating. Injuries treated without a physician without the proper knowhow can trigger career-threatening fall-outs for sportsmen. And for serious injuries, few in the state have the means to rush off to Mumbai, or, like Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble, to England and South Africa — countries with specialised centres to heal injuries.

“It is a sad state of affairs. Only sports medicine specialists can rehabilitate sportsmen, who have been known to overcome grave injuries and win laurels for the country and the state,” a senior coach said on condition of anonymity.

Add to that, the acute crunch of coaches at the non-residential centres and the future looks bleak indeed. Physical training instructors at these centres double as coaches too.

So what is the way out? To bring in more coaches, sincere and dedicated to their profession, is one solution. An average of two coaches per discipline and a constant evaluation of their performances, besides their wards, are also necessary to ward of complacency. Non-performing coaches, who set mediocrity as the target, adversely affect the performance of the trainees and the institute at large.

Interestingly, SAI fields its own outfit in a gamut of national tournaments. The objective, however, remains short-term as the coaches seem to take one match at a time. There needs to be a complete makeover of the attitude and aspiring soprtspersons should be trained for success on bigger stages to match its shoes of sporting doyennes.