On troubled tracks

Jamshedpur, Aug. 17: They had hoped to participate in the National Games, but bereft of gear, coaches and practice space, nearly 30 of the state cycling squad’s 50 members have gone back to farming to support themselves.

Though a few are sweating it out on their own with sub-standard racing cycles, the state cycling association finds its hands tied. “We are in a fix. We don’t know how we can organise camps without gear, coaches or adequate space,” said Satbir Singh, secretary of Jharkhand Cycling Association (JCA).

A former cyclist, Singh admitted that his wards were either sitting idle or had gone back to their fields. “Most of our cyclists are tribal farmers who have gone back to tilling their ancestral land. Some are practising on their own with sub-standard equipment or ordinary cycles,” he told The Telegraph.

Singh added due to lack of training, none of the cyclists would be fit to compete in the next few months with no championships in sight.

According to him, a list of equipment — track and road racing cycles, tubes, tyres, centre axles, disc wheels, pumps, helmets, shoes and shorts — had been sent to National Games Organising Committee (NGOC) in 2007. “But we are yet to hear from the NGOC officials. The gear is lying in Ranchi for over a year now,” the JCA secretary said. The equipment cost around Rs 50 lakh.

“How can we function under such circumstances? Besides equipment, we are also sans a coach. Our Manipuri coach Dinesh Singh has bid goodbye. He and his wife Beena Devi have left for Guwahati as the latter has been transferred to Assam,” Singh said, adding that a few local coaches were not being able to spare time for the cyclists.

Beena, who worked for South Eastern Railway in Jamshedpur, was a medal hope for Jharkhand at the Games. But her transfer seems to have put paid to her chances of her representing Jharkhand at the mega event, which is tentatively fixed in December.

Besides Beena, the cycling officials are also set to lose some outstation recruits who had promised to don Jharkhand colours during the Games. “We have lost contact with some outstation recruits. They could not keep waiting for the Games which keeps getting postponed,” a JCA official said.

Four top cyclists of the country had agreed to represent Jharkhand at the Games in 2008. The cyclists had informed JCA, which had asked them to obtain NOCs from their respective employers and home state. Three of the cyclists — Harprit Singh Mohi (Punjab), Rajinder Bishnoi (Rajasthan) and Beena Devi (Manipur) — are railway employees while P. Anita Kumari is from Manipur, settled in Assam.

The state had sanctioned funds to JCA for holding camps in 2007, 2008 and 2009. But no programme has been made for this year.