The Hindu

Mangalore, May 6: Everyone in Dakshina Kannada knows that sport in the district needs to be paid a lot of attention.

Most authorities in the district administration were fighting against one another over the issue of getting a hostel of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) sanctioned for the city. But not everybody involved with sports in the district appears to be happy about SAI, a Union Government-run body, evincing interest in setting up a hostel here for athletes from across the country and is waiting to sign a formal MoU with the State Government in this regard. The authority wants to use the facilities available at the Mangala Stadium here to train athletes.

“The resources of the stadium are already stretched. We should not allow the SAI to enter this arena,” said Dinesh Kundar, who shot to fame as the coach of Olympian M.R. Poovamma.

Mr. Kundar fears that if athletes from the proposed SAI hostel begin to use the facilities at the stadium then the local sportspersons will have no place to practice. He believes that the proposed hostel will help only outsiders.Vasanth Kumar, senior district athletics coach attached to the Department of Youth Services and Sports (DYAS), differs on this point. He pointed out that Dharwad had produced several world-class athletes after the SAI hostel was set up there. These hotels were run by well-trained professionals handpicked by the Government. Assistant Director of DYAS in the district M.C. Ramesh said that the arrival of the hostel here would mean that the local coaches, who were not exposed to international standards, could learn from the SAI coaches. Asked to react Mr. Kundar conceded that the SAI hostel would be of help. But, he said, the hostel should be allowed only after an alternative arrangement was made for local athletes.

The calls for a synthetic running track in the Mangala Stadium reached a crescendo the moment the city-based athlete M.R. Poovamma returned from the Beijing Olympics.

Led by her coach Mr. Kundar, several people raised the issue at public meetings and prevailed upon the then Deputy Commissioner M. Maheshwar Rao to send a Rs. 3.5-crore proposal for the track to the Commissioner of DYAS.

Local officials in the DYAS said that the laying of the track was just a matter of time now. At this point, questions have emerged over whether the track would indeed be a welcome development because if a synthetic track was laid here, not everybody would be allowed or able to run on it.

Mr. Vasanth Kumar said that athletes needed to have special spiked shoes to run on the track. “These shoes cost anywhere between Rs. 500 and Rs. 15,000,” he said.

Mr. Ramesh said that the stadium was booked for 90 to 120 days by schools across the district.

“Children from most schools are from underprivileged families,” he said and added that they would not be able to afford canvas trainers, leave alone spiked shoes for running. These children might have to go elsewhere when the track arrived, he said.

The track would also exclude a large number of young athletes. Athletics coach Arun B. Rao, a former sprinter, who brought several laurels to the district, said that there were only five runners from the district, who were in the reckoning for State and national berths.

“Can we spend Rs. 7 crore for five athletes and in doing so snatch away the access from hundreds of young boys and girls for whom the Mangala Stadium is the only sporting destination?” he asked.

Mr. Kundar told The Hindu that the track was essential to produce world class athletes. Mr. Ramesh said that the job of his department was to make the facilities accessible to all.

Revenue

Another issue plaguing sporting venues in the city is that of misuse. The cricket and football grounds at the Nehru Maidan and the Karavali Utsav grounds are often let out for all sorts fairs and public meetings.

Not only do such events eat up into sporting schedules but they also leave the venues badly damaged. A visit to the football ground on Tuesday revealed that it was in shambles because of a political rally.

The ground is dotted with pits that were dug to install poles. Football coach Mohammed Kasim said that one of his students almost broke his leg after it got stuck in one of the holes.

While the Mangala stadium is hardly ever let out for such events, the adjoining Karavali Utsav ground is often abused. Officials at the stadium said that a hockey stadium was expected to come up there. But commercial considerations thwarted any such move, the sources said.