Dhanbad, Aug. 20: More than 50 budding badminton players from schools of the district took part in the three-day Inter-School Gold Cup Badminton Championship inaugurated today.
First of its kind, the championship is being organised in the wake of the upcoming National Games, 2007, to be hosted by Jharkhand.
The championship was inaugurated by the deputy commissioner Beela Rajesh who is also the chairman of the indoor stadium, a first such facility for indoor games in Dhanbad.
Denobili School of Sindri and Dhanbad, Delhi Public School, Dhanbad, Public School, DAV School, Maithan, Rajkamal Saraswati Shishu Mandir will participate in the event.
Denobili CMRI defeated Rajkamal and Denobili Sindri defeated Delhi Public School in the quarterfinals to ensure a berth in the semifinals.
In the girls category, Dhanbad Public School defeated Delhi Public School, while Denobili Sindri defeated Dhanbad Public School to make their way to semifinals to be played here tomorrow.
Apart from the inter-school event, an inter-institution and inter-club competition is also underway in the indoor stadium.
Railways, SBI, BCCL, ISM, and district administration would compete in the inter institution event, while Multi Purpose Club, SBI Club, Indoor Stadium Club, Delhi Public School Club and Press Club would participate in the inter- club event.
Then Rajya Sabha member Parmeshwar Kumar Agarwala had given Rs 65 lakh fund for the development of the sports complex for indoor stadium in the year 2000.
The stadium was inaugurated by then chief minister Babulal Marandi in February, 2003.
“The bylaws for running the stadium was formulated during the tenure of the deputy commissioner Ajay Kumar Singh. The premises other than the badminton court could be used on a fee of Rs 15,000 for organising social functions and an amount of Rs 1.65 lakh has been generated against a running expenditure of Rs 1.34 lakh. Any badminton tournament could be organised in the stadium on payment of Rs 500 for each day,” said Samrat Chaudhury, the Joint Secretary.
“Any sports enthusiast can use the premises on payment of a one time fee of Rs 1,000 apart from the monthly fee of Rs 100, while students could avail off the facility on payment of Rs 25 every month. Director of Sports in the state Amitabh Chaudhary would come for the prize distribution to spot talented players in Dhanbad,” said Ajit Shankar, the secretary of the indoor stadium.
“The facilities at the complex are nice but still fail to match the standards of national level competitions. The Rs 3 lakh fund for Gymnasium would help in better training,” said Neetu Chatterjee, the former badminton champion.
