CHENNAI : As you enter the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium where the 33rd inter-district junior athletics championship is in progress, you see participants looking for two things: shade and water. While one can climb a few steps to find a seat in the gallery away from the sun, quenching thirst is greater problem.The three-day meet ending on Sunday has attracted nearly 4,000 athletes from 32 districts. For most of them, drinking water has been a concern. Even some officials were carrying water bottles brought from home. “There are a few cans which will be refilled only during breakfast or lunch time.
So we shell out our own money to buy water from outside,” said an athlete from Kanchipuram participating in the U-20 category. Other athletes too said that they need at least two litres a day, which they are buying from outside.“Athletes have not complained. We are not aware if drinking water is a problem. It would have been helpful had SDAT provided drinking water facilities,” said Tamil Nadu Athletic Association secretary C Latha.
One of the reasons cited by organisers Tiruvallur District Athletic Association (TDAA) for this was the late shift in venue. The meet was supposed to take place at YMCA College grounds in Nandanam but had to be moved to JN Stadium. With Chennai witnessing rains, the synthetic track of JN Stadium was preferred to the mud track at YMCA.
But this also led to problems like sponsors pulling out after the change in venue. Though girls were accommodated in the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu’s (SDAT) sports hostel, organisers had to book a marriage hall with three floors for the boys. Expenses for accommodation for three days alone came to Rs 1 lakh.
With the demise of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, events on Day 1 started at 5 pm and went on till 10.30 pm. This led to an additional payment of Rs 70,000 for floodlights. “We got this information (venue change) only on August 9. We didn’t have much time to arrange everything as planned.
We managed to conduct 85 per cent of events on Day 1 using the B Ground. But one of the drawbacks was shortage of water. We have set up bubble cans but we couldn’t provide sufficient water,” one of the organisers said. Apart from that, TDAA also had to spend Rs 500 each for 75 students as volunteers from YMCA College as the college refused to offer free service once the meet was shifted to JN Stadium.
srinidhi@newindianexpress.com