Manisha Chhimpa
Lunkaransar, Rajasthan
The way Indian players have performed in this year’s Asian Athletics Championship clearly shows that if players get ample opportunities, they can prove their talent to the world. Recognizing this potential of the players, the Central Government is running important programs like Khelo India. The benefits of which are being seen continuously. Indian players have performed brilliantly in most of the international championships in the last decades. This is the reason why now apart from Punjab, Haryana and North East, players from other states are also emerging. State governments are also taking advantage of this opportunity and are showering government jobs and rewards in the interest of the players and to encourage them.
But for any player to hone his talent, the most important thing is practice, for which a field is needed. There are many rural areas of the country where talent among players does not emerge simply due to lack of grounds. One of these is Dhani Bhopalaram village of Lunkaransar block in Bikaner, Rajasthan. While this village, about 9 km away from the block, is struggling with the lack of basic facilities, on the other hand it is also yearning for a field for the players to practice. The boys of the village go far away to practice but the girls are forced to leave the sport due to lack of this facility in the village itself. In this regard, Suman, a teenager from the village, tells that she left studies after 12th because she was interested in sports but due to lack of field facilities, she had to give up her dreams. Jethi, a graduate student, says that due to the unavailability of grounds for playing and practicing anywhere in the village, many talented girls could not emerge. Parents of many girls made them leave their studies and concentrate on household chores just because they wanted to play. Even at the school level, he had performed well in sports competitions, but now he had to go to Lunkaransar, 9 km away, for practice.
However, a girl like Vijayalakshmi is an exception in the village. Despite financial constraints, his parents provide him the facility to travel to Lunkaransar every day for practice. For which they have to spend Rs 200 per day. Vijayalakshmi is a softball player and has won medals by representing the district in state level competitions. In this regard, 36-year-old Mukesh of the village says that girls are suffering the most due to lack of playground in the village. Who have the ability to play at par with boys and win medals. He says that in this regard, the villagers met the administration and local public representatives several times and informed them about this problem, but till date nothing has been received except assurance. He told that Rajiv Gandhi Urban and Rural Olympics are organized every year at the state level. For which online registration has to be done, but due to lack of e-Mitra facility in the village, many talented players of this village remain deprived of medals.
Government Higher Secondary School is the only place in the village where playing facilities are available to the students. This is the reason why players like Vasudev, Radhekrishna, Rakesh, Lajwanti and Vijayalakshmi have emerged from this school, who have won silver and bronze medals by participating in district and state level sports competitions and have brought glory to Dhani Bhopalaram village. In this regard, school principal Pooja Purohit says that there is a small playground in the school, where not only practice facilities are provided to the students but also efforts are made to hone the talent of the players under the supervision of the PT teacher of the school. Which is also yielding positive results. He told that the players in the school have won prizes up to the state level by practicing basketball, cricket, Khokhlo and softball.
On one hand, the players participating in sports competitions are winning medals, on the other hand, they are also getting the benefits of getting higher education and reservation in jobs. Due to which the enthusiasm of the players is increasing. There are many players from rural areas of Rajasthan who have represented the country at national and international level and won medals, after which they have been provided government jobs by the state government. Arshdeep Kaur, resident of Sriganganagar, is a cycle polo player and has represented the district in many competitions. She tells that gold medal winners in sports at national and international level are provided government jobs directly by the state government. Due to which not only the morale of the players increases but the next generation also wants to move forward in this direction and bring glory to the state. Bikaner’s Kabaddi player Ravi Saraswat says that many rewards are given by the state government to encourage the players, among which government job is the main one. This will prove effective in helping players win more and more medals in sports.
However, to encourage the players, the rewards given by the central and state governments are very important. But first of all it is important for the players to have a field to practice. There is never any dearth of talent in rural areas. But the field is everything to improve it. In such a situation, it is necessary for the youth of Dhani Bhopalaram village to take initiative to overcome this deficiency. Otherwise the talents will die due to lack of field. (charkha feature)
The author is currently a graduate student and is a weight lifting athlete.
Source : palpalindia
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