“Instead of a few courses in sports science, they should have gone for a sports university. Kerala athletes are struggling to raise their standards due to lack of advanced and scientific research in sports. The training systems and facilities are all outdated. It is high time we started tapping areas like sports medicine and sports psychology,” said former KSSC president T P Dasan.
“It is the duty of bodies such as the Kerala State Sports Council (KSSC) to identify and present suitable projects at such investors’ meets. There has been no discussion on this front,” said Kerala Olympic Association president M M Abdul Rahiman.
Sports Secretary M Sivasankar said his department had decided against submitting proposals for Emerging Kerala despite being asked to do so. “We currently have no active projects that require private investment. We are in the middle of creating a huge amount of infrastructure for the National Games. We have identified specific areas that need private investment but we will explore those once the National Games get over,” he said.
“The development of sporting infrastructure is an absolute must at all levels. Although infrastructural work for National Games is in progress, no concrete step has been taken to install infrastructure at the grassroots level,” said Athletics Federation of India joint secretary and Kerala State Athletics Association executive vice-president Tony Daniel.