Ranchi, June 14: It has been more than four year since the formation ofJharkhand, but the state government is yet to establish a wrestlingcoaching centre in the state. Not only has the state government failedto establish one, the existing centres dealing in training players inother sports also does not have the provision of training wrestlers init.
As of now, the wrestlers get coaching from the private centres which areaffiliated to the Jharkhand State Wrestling Association (JSWA) whichmanages its fundings and other requisites on its own. Thanks to theapathy of the state government, the JSWA officials feel that the sport,which has the capacity of bringing in maximum medals in the NationalGames, is getting neglected. The lack of a centre in turn is leading tothe wastage of so many talents in different parts of the state, theofficials feel.
Although the senior officials of the state sports department maintainthat they have been providing all the necessary help to the Associationsin organising many events, the establishment of a centre depends on thepriority of the sports and hence not a single centre. They also maintainthat there was a proposal of opening such a centre in the Garhwadistrict last year, but things could not get worked out due to somereasons.
The JSWA officials maintain that there has been no help from thegovernment side in establishing a centre. It is their love for the gamethat they are continuing with the coaching of players inspite ofgovernment help, they maintain. Under the JSWA, seven centres are run inplaces like Sahebganj, Garwa, Ramgarh, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Ranchi andPalamu in which Ranchi is the only centre, which has wrestling trainingequipments of international level. The others make the wrestlerspractice on sand. How can the players perform at national level withthese facilities, the officials maintain.
General Secretary of the JSWA, Bhola Nath Singh told TheTelegraph,?Inspite of the government apathy and lack of centres, my boyshave been doing well both at the state as well as national level. Butthere has to be a centre, which would train them properly and providethem their proper equipments. There are 26 wrestlers in Ranchi and theyare doing very well inspite of everything. A requisition for a propercentre had been given to the sports department by the deputycommissioner of Ranchi two years back but no action was taken on that,?said Singh.
He further elaborates,? If one talks of gaining medals, in the NationalGames, there are 21 medals to be won in just one weight category andthere are three categories. The government intends to concentrate morehockey. But that would bring just one medal. If we do not bring medals,then blame us, but why before that. We have been performing and we wouldcontinue doing so. How can one decide on giving priority to other gameswhen wrestling falls under the ?A? category of sport,? added Singh.
Singh also happens to be the only international NIS wrestling coach inJharkhand who had participated in the 36th World Wrestling Championshipsheld in Iran in September 2002 as the chief coach of the Indian team.Reacting to this, the sports secretary N.N.Sinha maintained that thegovernment has been all the needful to help the sport but one has todecide over the priority of a particular game before opening a centre.
?It is not that we are completely neglecting wrestling but everythingcannot be done by the department. There are so many other sports. Mostof them would say that they do not have a centre. But opening a centredepends on the priority of the game. We had given huge financialassistance to the JSWA for conducting the nationals. There was also aproposal of opening a centre at Garwa but due to some faults it did notmaterialize. Further talks and negotiations are going on for opening onein the future,? said Sinha.
He further added,? We are also thinking about inducting wrestling in thecoaching camps, which we are organising in view of the 2004 NationalGames. Talks are also going on about opening a day boarding scheme inwhich young people can study, get trained in sports and also stay there.We are thinking of including wrestling in it too. So there is noquestion of neglecting the game. But one also has to look into thepopularity, priority and scopes of a particular game. Then only a centrecan be established,? added Sinha.
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