Competition in rowing, kayaking and canoeing will be held during the three-day Water Sports Festival starting Thursday.
The organisers of the three-day Khelo India Water Sports Festival at Srinagar’s Dal Lake had to transport three truckloads of boats and jetty from Bhopal to Jammu and Kashmir to successfully conduct the competition starting Thursday. After the competition the equipment will have to be transported back to Bhopal.
“Since the local organisers (Jammu and Kashmir Sports Council) didn’t have equipment to conduct kayaking and canoeing competitions, last week Madhya Pradesh State Water Sports Academy in Bhopal had to transport boats in three trucks to Srinagar,” one of the officials familiar with the development told Sportsbackstory.com over the phone from Bhopal.
“Jetties were also loaded in the trucks for the competition.”
While boats for rowing competition were arranged from the Jammu region. “The huge transportation cost could have been saved had Jammu and Kashmir Sports Council purchased its own equipment for the water sports festival. The same equipment could have been later used for practice,” one of the kayaking coaches said.
Water Sports Festival
The Water Sports Festival is being held under the aegis of Sports Ministry in coordination with Jammu and Kashmir Sports Council and will witness competition in rowing, kayaking and canoeing.
“More than 400 players from different states are expected to compete in the competition,”a press release of Sports Authority of India (SAI) said on Monday. This is the second time the Sports Ministry is making efforts to make water sports popular in the region. However, organising an event has to be backed by other initiatives to churn out champions in the region. Take for example the case of Indian distance runners. Indian runners have never won titles in the elite foreign category at the Delhi half marathon, which is a gold level event sanctioned by the World Athletics. There is a separate category for the elite Indian athletes.
Rowing Academy
It may be recalled that nearly four years ago former sports minister Kiren Rijiju inaugurated Khelo India State Centre of Excellence for Rowing at Water Sports Academy in Srinagar. But due to lack of accommodation facilities the rowing project failed to start.
“There is a lot of potential and we from the Sports Ministry and Jammu and Kashmir Sports Council are doing our best to help the youngsters here. This will be a great opportunity for the future champions,” Rijiju had said.
Incidentally, there is no player at the rowing academy, but J&K Sports Council pays salary to officials appointed to oversee Khelo India Centre of Excellence in Rowing, it is learnt. It will be interesting to see the benefits local players gained, if any, from the rowing project in Srinagar.
