Lack of encouragement from government and no sponsorship from industrialists to blame for dismal number of players from state in international events.
India will field its biggest-ever squad at the Asian Games that get under way in Guangzhou, China on Friday. More than 600 athletes — 609 to be precise — will don India colours in the land of the dragon where a total of 476 events in 42 sports will be contested.
Interestingly, only six sportspersons from Gujarat are part of the contingent. Apart from shooting star Lajja Gauswami from Anand, triathlon athlete Puja Charushi and swimmer Ansul Kothari from Surat, two skaters Kanika Bhalla and Aashna Shah from Ahmedabad have made it to the 16th Asian
Games. Billiards star Geet Sethi is the sixth representative from the state.
Hockey goalkeeper Deepika Murthy, who started her career in Gujarat, is now based in Mumbai and plays for Railways.
This is not surprising as there has been no encouragement for sportspersons in the state for ages now. Though Commonwealth Games medalist Lajja Gauswami received Rs5 lakh from the Narendra Modi government after her success in Delhi, overall the sportspersons have been lamenting their lot.
"Not many Gujarat athletes have represented the country in the Asian Games. It is a big achievement for these girls. Once again they have outplayed the boys," said a parent before adding, "But at the same time, it is very essential that the state government follows Haryana's model. This is the right time. If it doesn't encourage players now, it will be too late. We have money and industrialists who can adopt games and players. Sadly, they are not
doing this."
Interestingly, the Haryana government handsomely honoured its CWG medalists with cash rewards in a ceremony held at Sonepat.
The 37 players drove away with cars from the Maruti stable — SX-4 (worth nearly Rs800,000), Dzire (Rs700,000) and Wagon-R (Rs350,000). This time Haryana is sending more than 20 athletes to China while Karnataka is sending 10 athletes. The players also got mobile phones of a reputed company and desi ghee, ranging from 31 to 101 kg each, on the occasion.
The gold medal winners walked away with cash rewards of Rs29.2 million (Rs2.92 crore). Silver and bronze medallists accounted for another Rs8 million (Rs80 lakh) and Rs4 million (Rs40 lakh), respectively. Players who participated from Haryana in the CWG but could not win any medals, were also given rewards of Rs200,000 each. They
took away in all Rs5.8 million (Rs58 lakh).
Sabarkantha-based Babu Panocha rewrote the national record in the 20km walk thrice. He almost made it to the Beijing Olympics, but the athlete has not been rewarded properly.
The late Ashok Patel, who was secretary of the Gujarat State Amateur Athletics Association, got
a cash reward of Rs2lakh for grooming Panocha before his sudden demise.
Gujarat has produced several players of international standard, like champion cueists Geet Sethi and Rupesh Shah, chess grandmaster Tejas Bakre, paddlers like Pathik Mehta and Harmeet Desai, who is training in Sweden.
However, they have been rarely felicitated by the Gujarat government, and the many industrialists of the state have not opened their coffers to them. It’s time this attitude changed — or Gujarat will continue to be the sports laggard of the nation.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}