Rajesh Dhar
JAMMU, July 26: The constitution of District Sports Councils, as decided by the State’s Sports Ministry, is a step forward in enhancing the standard of sports and games in the State, as it would serve a twin purpose of making the Sports Associations more accountable and the teams of various sports disciplines to represent the State much healthier.
This statement was aired by SM Bali, president, J&K Handball Association and Secretary General, Handball Federation of India, while talking to Excelsior and expressing satisfaction over the decision of the State Government with regard to Constitution of District Sports Councils in all the districts of the State, with the first phase covering 10 prominent districts.
He said the District Councils would share the responsibility of their parent body, the J&K State Sports Council and provide a helping hand to it in ascertaining the genuineness of the associations, apart from organizing activities at their respective districts, adding that these Councils would also serve as a launching pad for two elitist Sports Agencies of the State, the Department of Youth Services and Sports and J&K State Sports Council, to work together as a cohesive unit and promote sports in nooks and corners of the State.
The District Sports Councils would identify talent in specific sports disciplines as per their familiarity as also popularity in a particular district and groom it to produce quality sportspersons. Say for example, one district has rich talent in gymnastics, other in football and another in fencing and so on, the District Council would accordingly polish the talent and produce healthy district teams, which in turn would help the State Council to produce healthier State teams. Otherwise, there is a custom in the State that the teams are picked from main two headquarters of Jammu and Srinagar, while the rest of the districts are ignored, so the talent gets wasted.
“J&K State Sports Council used to work at two headquarters of Jammu and Srinagar only and the sportspersons of the other districts had to come from far-off areas to attend the selection trials to get the selectors nod. The constitution of District Councils would not only help sportspersons of far-flung areas to hone their skill but also would provide opportunity to ex-sportspersons to serve the State in organizing sports activities at the district level. It would also help the State in developing more and more sports infrastructure at the district level and help it in enhancing standard of sports through comprehensive scheduling,” said Vivek Sharma, former Ranji trophy player and sports analyst in a chat with Excelsior.
It is pertinent to mention here, that the Government had earlier constituted Advisory Boards, which haven’t proved to be of much success. For that matter, for running the District Sports Councils successfully, there is a need to circulate guidelines to all the Standing Committee Members of J&K State Sports Council, before making the final call, to help it not to go in the District Advisory Boards way.
Meanwhile, when contacted, Dalip Thussu, Secretary J&K State Sports Council said that the decision with regard to constitution of District Sports Associations would be given a practical shape in a months time, adding that the District Manager J&K Sports Council would be the head of the District Council with respective District Youth Services and Sports Officer as one of the members along with other members to be nominated for the job. It would help in promoting sports in nooks and corners of the State, Thussu further added.
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