To encourage women’s hockey the Rajasthan State Sports Council has set up an academy at Ajmer exclusively for women players. But it lacks basic infrastructure. Leave alone an artificial turf, the academy has no ground it call as its own. It has to depend on the playing fields of local schools grounds for training.
Neither does the academy have a hostel. In fact, there are not even a sufficient number of girls on its rolls to form two teams for practice games. There are just 20 girls who are billeted in the youth hostel. It looks like little planning was done before the academy began.
When the academy will acquire the basic facility of an artificial grass pitch is not known. The state hockey association was not consulted by the sports council. Nor was it involved in selection process of girls for the academy.