Saroor Nagar stadium left in ruins

Saroor nagar: The highly expected scenario of learning a sport with full-fledged infrastructure is missing at Saroor Nagar stadium. Especially, the cluster of state and national level athletic champions aiming to win gold medal in various international competitions are deprived of required equipment to practice, which has to be supplied from the stadium management.

There are about 100 athletic players. Of this, almost 50 players had won medals at various state-level competitions and with few of them went up to national levels. But, their excitement to explore layer by layer went unnoticed and struggling to nurture their sporting skills with the available facilities.

“Having many athletic players, there are no sufficient long jump, high jump and triple jump poles for them to practice. The situation is so worsened that there is no availability of pit forms and landing beds for the performers,” said Sai Baba Reddy, a coach. He further said that, “There are four national players having the capability to shine at international levels and I want to see all of them as achievers.”

It is observed that all the essentials and necessary items to fill the purpose are trashed in a room and found to be broken. Even after making several representations to District Sport Development Officer, he turned a blind eye and nothing was implemented yet. In a shocking incident, the poverty hit athletics players themselves would pool in money anywhere between Rs 200 to Rs 300 to purchase few sport items, when needed.

“We brought in 9m ladder, around 10 hurdles, four 5kg plates, two 2.5 kg plates, two 7.5 kg plates, two 10 kg plates, small football cones and other gym related equipment to maintain fitness,” informed players. Adding to it, they said, “We are unable to withstand without our parents’ support and urged the administration to take up the issues seriously and ensure that all facilities are given for the player.” Soumya, athletic player said that, “Our coach is very much determinative and strives hard to make us champions. He also pool in money to help us buying sport items. We request the government to take swift action in an effective way.”

It is not just about the inadequate infrastructure. The pathetic condition of the stadium has made the players to take charge of the wide ground and had filled many hollow pits that invariably found in their path that injured them many-a-time. “We immensely worked to fill the gaps with the red mud available at the corners of the ground and tried to bring shape to make it fit for practice to a certain level. However, the ground is not leveled enough to perform a safe jump.

On the other hand, the cricket players are also facing difficulty to play on the irregularly shaped pitch.” “The cricket pitch is not maintained. It lacks shape and be very rough to play. At the same time, the net that is used for the cricket net practice is torn on all sides.

BY Sushma Nagaraju