TIMES OF INDIA: Sports Ministry to monitor maintenance of astro-turfs
5 Jul 2009,

SONEPAT: Aware how astroturfs across the country are lying in neglect, Sports Minister MS Gill on Sunday announced that a proper mechanism would be p
ut in place next week to monitor the maintenance of the synthetic turf.

After inaugurating a newly-laid astroturf at the Sport Authority of India facility, the Minister said he would ensure that the surfaces are maintained properly not only here but also across the country.

“I am going to set up a system and structure to monitor and supervise the turfs,” he said.

“To ensure we can get the best out of it, we are trying to get the right technical people on board,” Gill added.

The Sports Minister said maintaining the artificial surfaces here was not as easy as it is in some other countries.

“All the major hockey countries — England, Holland, Germany, Belgium — have maximum number of astroturfs and it requires a lot of water to maintain them properly. It is easy to maintain them in these countries because of the conditions there,” Gill said.

“In contrast, the maintenance is difficult here, considering the above 45 degrees heat of the northern region. But the world body decisions have brought us to these artificial turfs and we need to build more such turfs and maintain them too,” he added.

The Minister also announced that more Indian and foreign coaches would be recruited in the SAI centres to cater to the need of the emerging new sports of India.

“Currently there are 35-40 foreign coaches in India apart from the 1,300 Indian coaches. If foreign coaches can get us medal then we will get as many as possible.

“There are many new sports coming up in India and we are trying to get around 400-500 coaches more in SAI centres and also get more foreign coaches to fulfill the need,” he said.

The minister also felt that the young athletes were not ambitious enough and lack drive and devotion towards their discipline.

“Sports is a devotion. Today’s youngsters become complacent just after winning one medal. The drive and devotion is lacking in them.

“We are no where in the world in the scheme of things. We have won just one Olympic gold but China has 50. So we need to do more,” he said.