Shooter Heena Sidhu takes aim at government over delay in organization of National Games

What's the story?

Arjuna awardee and Olympic shooter Heena Sidhu slammed the Indian sports administration fraternity in a tweet, over the organization of the National Games, which continues to remain under a cloud of doubt.

When are we going to have the next National Games? Hope in my lifetime. Desperately need changes in #NationalGames running

— Heena SIDHU (@HeenaSidhu10) September 29, 2017

The 36th National Games were scheduled to be held in 2016 in Goa but were postponed to November 2017 by the then Chief Minister of the state, Laxmikant Parsekar.

Later on, the date was pushed further by the new Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar. This unprecedented series of postponements is what bothers our shooting champion in this situation.

In case you didn't know

The National Games were last held in 2015, which was the 35th edition of the event, from 31 January to 14 February, across seven districts in Kerala.

The heart of the matter

The National Games in Goa that were to be held in 2016, were moved forward to November 2017 and later, the Parrikar-led government in June, presented another deadline for hosting the event. The new Chief Minister had stated that the Games could only be hosted next year after the infrastructure required for the event is still under construction.

"Goa is ready to host the National Games next year after constructing the required infrastructure at much-decreased rates," Parrikar had told the media in June. This lagging behind was the main concern of the athletes who were to take part in the mega-event.

Speaking about the delay in starting the event, Parrikar said that the creation of infrastructure has to be backed by substantial maintenance of the infrastructure. He paid emphasis on the fact, that if the government created the infrastructure in such remote areas where maintenance would become difficult, it would result in administrative failure.

What's next?

While there is rising tension in the minds of all the athletes that are to take part in the event and also rising pressure on the government to give clear information about the initiation of the event.

It is still unclear whether the National Games will happen this year at all. Amidst all the ambiguity, the number of athletes to question the motives of the government are only bound to increase.

Author's take

Although the delay on the part of the concerned government is understandable, keeping in mind all the complexities that are part of the process of shaping such events, it would go a long way if the government shows a more transparent approach in handling these situations.

However, Sindhu's concerns are quite valid and many other athletes should also come out in support of her.