After months-long conflict, the Jharkhand Olympic Association (JOA) and State Government joined hands for organising training camps for the 35th National Games. The upcoming Games are scheduled at Kerala from January 31 to February 14. As of now, 302 players, including 18 sports events, have been selected for the camps to be hosted from January 10 to 24. The camps include Archery, Beach Handball, Hockey, Athletics, Taekwondo, Football, lawn Bowls, Canoeing and Kayaking, Swimming, Wushu, Squash, Boxing, Triathlon, Gymnastics and Fencing.
“The 16 players’ quota for wrestling was updated in the website on Monday. Quota for the shooting event is awaited,” Anil Jaiswal, Chairman of the Jharkhand five-member committee for the Games said during a press meet on Tuesday.
The camp for boxing, archery and handball will be held at Jamshedpur. Triathlon camp will be at Dumka. Camps for Squash will be organised at Dhanbad. The camps of the remaining events besides Canoeing and Kayaking will be at Ranchi.
Jaiswal said since all the players hail from services, there will be no camp for the latter event. However, there is confusion on sponsoring the security, food and accommodation arrangements. JOA has requested Sports Director Dadan Choubey to take the sponsoring responsibility.
“We have also asked the government to distribute the sports kits to the participants during the camp. Director has assured us to forward the proposal of transportation expenses of the participants for Kerala. The daily allowance of Rs125 to each of our player in the games is also awaited,” Jaiswal added.
JOA has requested the Director to make direct communication with the selected participants from now onwards instead of approaching them. “Documents of all the participants will be given to the Special Branch for security reasons. We have asked Director for the insurance of the participants,” JOA Spokesperson Shailendra Pathak said.
As Jharkhand was the host of the 34th National Games, state’s renowned Folk artist Nandlal Nayak will present a 10 minutes show on the local art and culture at the opening ceremony in Kerala.
Players will be departing for Kerala according to the date of their event. As many as 100 participants will be present in the opening ceremony. Pathak said the first troop headed by Ace Archer Deepika Kumari will depart on January 27.