THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The G V Raja Sports School here which once used to give jitters to athletes from other schools in the state and national level meets, is struggling hard to regain its past glory.
Efforts put in by the school athletes and their coaches to retain their presence in athletic meets has not proved to be a success in the 58th State Schools Athletic Meet held here at Lakshmibai National College of Physical Education (LNCPE).
With just two silver medals in hand, the sports school does not have much to boast of in the ongoing meet. Saneesh P S won silver in 100 metres junior boys category and Akshaya Mol A K won silver in long jump senior girls category.
Surendran, the coach of athletes Saneesh and Akshaya, said that both have got eligibility to take part in the National Schools Athletic Meet in Ranchi.
Though 30 athletes from the school had registered to participate in the meet, only 15 could finally make it after qualification rounds. Some teachers have blamed the busy travel schedule of G V Raja School athletes in recent months which they said had taken a heavy toll on them. The athletics team of the sports school had participated in the national junior athletics meet held in November at Vijayawada. On returning back, the team also took part in the district schools athletics meet before the ongoing meet which had caused the athletes much fatigue.
‘’The majority of other sports schools in the state did not send their athletes to Vijayawada. The athletes of these schools had enough rest while our athletes did not, as this is the third event in the third successive week,’’ said Surendran.
However, it was learnt that the school team also failed to secure medals in the national junior athletic meet apart from a few medals in relay races. Some teachers in the schools have cited certain other reasons also for the poor show.
‘’The lack of coordination among the school faculty and absence of required number of coaches in the school adds to the underperformance of the athletes. Additionally, the admission to the school conducted by the DPI in the high school section and through single window system in higher secondary section is purely based on the academic performance of the children but not by looking into the sports talent and track records of the children,’’ said another faculty in the school on the condition of anonymity.