NEW DELHI: Sports Authority of India (SAI) officials have been brainstorming over the best utilisation of the cycling velodrome in the Indira Gandhi stadium complex. “Just last week, the Sports Minister said the velodrome can be developed as a Centre of Excellence,” SAI Secretary Gopal Krishna told The Sunday Standard.
Krishna said one of the difficulties is that the Cycling Federation of India (CFI) has been defunct for the past few months due to some legal issues. The CFI is not recognised, says Krishna, which is a stumbling block as they are the ones who bring in international cycling events. In addition, the running cost of the velodrome is rather high. “It is a very large and fully air-conditioned arena; its running cost for around 300 days in a year is a whopping `4-5 crore. It cannot be opened up for a few cyclists for a full day just for practice. It is meant for elite sportspersons only,” says Krishna, explaining why the velodrome has been lying locked and barred since the Commonwealth Games held in October 2010.
The CFI does not have recognition from the Sports Ministry at present because of which the velodrome cannot be opened up for their cyclists. CFI Secretary Onkar Singh admits that the body does not have recognition but points out that they have been organising several cycling events across the country with sponsorship. “The velodrome is a great facility but has been lying locked up for so long. We have over 20 cyclists in Delhi itself who could use the track but our application for recognition is stuck in the ministry,” he said.
A legacy of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the `153-crore velodrome is the only stadium which is not being used at all. The state-of the art facility, developed for the cycling event during the Games, is the best possible arena for the sport and has been granted a Category 1 cycling velodrome by the International Cycling Union. There are only two such Siberian pinewood track velodromes in Asia, one in Delhi and the other in China.