BENGALURU: India’s greatest ever long jumper Anju Bobby George and Athletics Federation of India secretary CK Valson have blamed the ongoing Indian Super League (ISL) for taking away stadiums meant for athletics, thus leading to a compromise on the training of athletes.
“Athletics is the toughest of all events. But it is not getting the right support. Football has taken over athletics, there is no place for athletes to practice or compete. Whether it is the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi, Sree Kanteerava in Bengaluru or Nehru Stadium in Chennai, you cannot use these venues as a football tournament is going on,” Deccan Herald quotes Anju as having said at an AFI event.
While the AFI wanted to host the Federation Cup at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in the capital, they have had to move it to NIS, Patiala, as in the previous year because ISL has already booked the stadium, the report said.
“The Fed Cup is a National Championship and a qualifying event for the Commonwealth Games. We have a junior world champion in Neeraj Chopra in the javelin. You expect them to perform there in absence of any crowd? I want to ask the government, whether you want commercial success or you want Olympics or Asian Games or Commonwealth Games medal?” Valson told reporters.
According to Valson, AFI had been repeatedly told to host the field events – shot put, javelin and discus – at the warm-up areas. When the same instruction was given for Khelo India Games, the AFI had threatened to pull out of the event. It was only then all athletics events were allowed to be conducted inside the stadium. “We will not be allowed to use the central area of the ground for throw events, so that is why we have been asked to conduct throw events at the warm-up area. Because of this, we had to even cancel some of the throw events in the past,” Valson said.
“To maintain infrastructure across cities, the SAI needs money and the ISL clubs are paying. The AFI isn’t. These are all multi sport venues and all the federations have to plan their competition calendar accordingly,” an unnamed official from the Sports Authority of India was quoted as saying by the Times of India.
