VIJAYAWADA: The young aspiring volleyball team of Andhra Pradesh has lost to Delhi team in Khelo India Championship which was held in New Delhi from January 31 to February 8. The possible reason: The team members are not used to play wearing shoes.
Earlier in the tournament, the team won against Tamil Nadu team when they played without wearing shoes. Before the team’s match with Delhi, the opposition team raised an objection in AP team playing without shoes.
As the players from the State are not used to wear shoes during the practice, they couldn’t play well and lost the match.
In Khelo India, a national-level school sports meet, the State came at the 14th place, securing only seven medals in various events. In fact, the School Games Federation of Andhra Pradesh (SGFAP), which looks after the sports at the school level, couldn’t train the students properly due severe fund shortage.
For the financial year 2017-18, the SGFAP sent a budget proposal of Rs 19 crore, but the State government sanctioned only Rs 2 crore. Of the Rs 2 crore, the federation received only Rs 1.5 crore.
The School Games Federation of Andhra Pradesh is giving training to over 5 lakh students in the State and preparing them for 16 State-level sports championships and many other national school championships.
Speaking to Express, SK Mahaboob Basha, Secretary, School Games Federation of Andhra Pradesh, said, “The State government is aiming to create more quality sportspersons from the State. But the sad thing is that it is allocating more funds to the Sports Authority of Andra Pradesh (SAAP) and ignoring the SGFAP.
Any sportsperson should be given support and training right from the school level as they can learn better and the coaches can shape them as champions. However, due to shortage of funds, we are not able to do much and our students are unable to meet international standards.”
He further said majority of the schools don’t have separate sports teachers.
“With our limited resources and money, we have classified sports into various categories. Ten sports events, which are part of the Olympics and Asian Games, have been listed as ‘high priority’. Similarly, we have included 57 other sport events in various categories,” he says.
Meanwhile, the sportspersons also expressed displeasure over the poor facilities in the State.
Murali (name changed), an athlete from Kakinada, who took part in Khelo India Championship, said, “We are struggling to practice without basic amenities and sports infrastructure.
Not just infrastructure, we don’t have proper sports kits. As we are not having proper equipment and basic things like shoes, knee caps etc, we couldn’t do properly at the national level and are unable to win medals. Neither the schools nor the federation are able to train us properly.”
Fund shortage
For 2017-18 fiscal, the SGFAP sent a budget proposal of H19 crore, but it got only H2 crore
Of the H2 crore, the federation received only H1.5 crore
The SGFAP is giving training to over 5 lakh students in the State and preparing them for 16 State-level sports championships and many other national school championships
Majority of the schools don’t have games tutors