Badal:

IN A country where most hockey players don’t get a chance to practice on astro-turf, it’s surprising that a turf is lying under-utilised for years. The turf at Badal village in Punjab, laid in 2000, is a perfect example of infrastructure worth crores lying in a state of disuse. During the last eight years, no tournament has been organised on the turf, barring the final of the Punjab Hockey League (girls) this March. Players from adjoining areas do not have access as it is inside a girls’ college.

No wonder, the Sports Authority of India’s Training Centre (STC) has not produced even a single international player The village is not in the hockey-playing belt, but the turf was laid at the Dashmesh School and College for Girls (Badal) because the village happens to be the constituency of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

The Sports Ministry funded the project at Badal’s behest during his tenure as Chief Minister. It’s been over a year since Badal returned to power but nothing has changed.

Some 30-odd girl-trainees are “using” the turf now while a few months back just 15 of them were making use of the facility “Since the centre is located in a village, not many trainees sought admission in the past. This time around we’ve got better response. So we have increased the strength to 30,” said a SAI official. However the girls rarely practice on the turf, preferring to hone their skills on the grassy field near the campus. ” There is shortage of water in the area, resulting in the turf getting harder by the day… it’s not advisable for the girls to train on the hard surface daily” said the SAI official.

“Badal is 55km from the district headquarters, it’s not possible for us to hold even district-level championships. Even if we need the ground for a couple of days, getting permission is a problem,” said Satpal Singh Mann, secretary, Muktsar District Hockey Association.
“Moreover, it’s a girls’ institution, so the management doesn’t allow boys,” he added. The district is now hosting the state championship from July 5 at a college in Muktsar.

Rajwant, a hockey coach from Bathinda, said, “Earlier, the management wouldn’t permit us to hold camps for girls. But things have changed in the past six months. We have organised two state camps here.”

Pargat Singh , director: sports, agreed that the turf had not being utilised fully “For proper utilisation of infrastructure, we have allotted a 24-seat hockey wing to the school and the girls will start practice after the summer vacation,” he said.