Call it misfortune or inefficiency, at the ongoing 53rd edition of National Open Athletics Tournament, a clash of senior athletes, Jharkhand state has failed to earn its name in the top three positions in any of the athletic events both for men and women.
Stating the reason behind this lagging, an officer of Jharkhand Athletics Association requesting anonymity said, “Actually, our athletes are champions in junior level. Competing at the senior level is difficult for them since they are devoid of sports facilities like practice on tracks, regular national camps and other required ambience.”
“Now when this national sports phase is going on, the players are given the scope to run at this Mega-Sports Complex athletics stadium. They are rarely given the scope to practice regularly here. How will it suddenly groom their performance at the national level,” added the officials.
Notably, 24 state teams including Jharkhand and six institutions are participating at this meet.
Notably, the various state sports associations have been requesting state sports department to avail them this Mega-Sports Complex for training their candidates to which a decision from the department is yet to be taken.
The grant from the state government side is also awaited for these sports associations. A final decision on this funding will be taken by state government on Wednesday.