A sportsperson hones her skills under the watchful eyes of her coach. However, in several districts of the state, coaches are tied to administrative work, leaving them with less time for on-field activities. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, March 23: The Odisha government’s effort to strengthen sports facility has hit a hurdle as most coaches appointed at the district level are doubling up as district sports officers (DSOs).

As the government have stopped recruiting DSOs for the past 12 years, the coaches also function as DSOs in-charge and are entrusted with additional administrative jobs related to sports.

Records in the department of sports and youth services reveal that only two districts — Mayurbhanj and Koraput — have regularly appointed DSOs, while another 27 districts have coaches-cum-DSO in-charge. The coaches, who also double up as DSOs in-charge, were appointed primarily to nurture local sport talents. The Koraput DSO is also holding the additional charge of Nabarangpur DSO.

Of the 30 districts, as many as 14, including Deogarh, Dhenkanal, Bhadrak, Nuapada and Sambalpur, have only one coach cum DSO in-charge. The discrimination towards appointment of district coaches is reflected in the performance of sportspersons at the state level.

For instance, in the Odisha State Women’s Sports Meet held in Bhubaneswar last October, Khurda emerged at the top. Districts such as Sundergarh and Ganjam have also made their mark. These were the districts having proper coaching facilities.

“Performance also depends on the quality of coaching. Though talents cannot be restricted, proper coaching can enhance the performance and take you to the next level,” said former assistant director of sports Ashok Mohanty.

While the state is facing an acute shortage of coaches, the twin responsibilities of coaching and administrative job have become a deterrent in spotting talents in the districts.

The coaches, entrusted with the additional charge of the DSO, feel that it has become difficult for them to perform both the jobs.

“We hardly get any time to perform coaching in the districts as we have to take up administrative work, which includes strengthening the infrastructure,” said a coach-cum-DSO requesting anonymity.

“Most of the coaching facilities remain confined to the 15 sports hostels. But what about the rural talents who are deprived of coaching facilities? Though earlier the rural talents used to be nurtured by district coaching centres, the additional administrative work given to the coaches have resulted in most such facilities becoming defunct,” alleged Mohanty.

Also, the sports department does not have coaches in various disciplines, including table tennis and pool diving. Absence of a diving coach has led to a pool set up inside Biju Patnaik Swimming Pool Complex in Bhubaneswar lying unused for the past four years.

However, state sports director D.V. Swamy said the department would strengthen the state’s coaching facilities.

“Coaching is also a basic need with infrastructure development, so we are planning to appoint as many as 10 coaches for each district and the process is on,” said Swamy.