In 2011, Jharkhand, hosting the 34th National Games, had bagged the fifth position. Four years later, the State has slipped down to twelfth position in the 35th National Games, whose final results were declared on Friday.
The State bagged eight gold, three silver and 12 bronze medals in the recent games. Coaches and players blamed the weather of Kerala which affected their performance. They also blamed the lack of adequate number of training camps organised before the games for the poor performance.
Boxer Aruna Mishra who had bagged one of the gold medals in the mentioned list on Friday said that she could have performed better if the weather of Kerala was not hot and humid. She also said that the athletes hardly got 25 days for practice before the games as the final schedule was being postponed for last six months.
Similarly, Archery coach Harendra Singh whose team secured three gold medals in various events of Recurve archery leading Jharkhand as Overall Champion in Archery informed two women archers had to be given saline due to the spicy food served in Kerala.
“We had three Arjuna awardees in our team who could not perform properly. Moreover, we could not win medals in Compound Archery. The conflict between Jharkhand Olympic Association (JOA) and state government affected our players. As a result, players had to participate without regular camps and coordination,” Singh said.
When JOA Acting Secretary Shivendra Dubey was contacted, he also felt that the insufficient number of camps has hampered the performance of players. “In the name of sports kits, government distributed track suits to most of the players. Many were devoid of playing kits. The association and players had to manage those kits by themselves,” Dubey said.
Citing example of one such player he pointed out that Jyoti Kumari, a Bronze medalist, in Taolu event of Wushu at the 7th Asian Junior Championship in Manila organized in 2013. She clinched the eighth gold medal for the state contingent on Friday in Jiashu event.
Former Sports Director Dadan Choubey who is said to be the main manager for the games on behalf of the sports department did not respond to the calls made for his perspective over the matter.
Among the 239 players who represented the State in 18 sports discipline, sources maintained that some of them did not belong to the State. “In wrestling the boys who got gold and bronze medals are from Haryana or some other states. Only, the girl named Priyanka Kumari scoring a bronze medal in 60 kg free style is a resident of Jharkhand,” said sources.
Overall, 239 players from 18 sports disciplines had represented in the 35th National Games. It includes Aquatics, Athletics, Gymnastics, Triathlon, Taekwondo, Wushu, Squash, Shooting, Beach Handball, Hockey, Archery, Fencing, lawn Bowls, Yachting, Football (women), Boxing, Wrestling Canoeing and Kayaking.