namma mejura

As the curtain downs on the Olympics at Beijing today, talks were in the air about our achievements in sports. It is definitely not flattering to know that India won the first Gold in individual events in Olympics only this year. That too because the winner’s father is a rich man and sponsored most of his training expenses.

One of my ‘pro-West’ cousin talked about the way the athletes were prepared in West, the facilities they have & the commitment etc. But I’m not sure how he will explain Ethiopia which won 4 Gold 1 Silver & 2 Bronze medals. Anyway I do not doubt their commitment. We seriously need to review how sports is being managed in our country.

Well this post is not directly relevant to Madurai. But this subject is very much in the air here

We have just two public playgrounds in Madurai. The Race Course & the Arasaradi Railway Ground, which now attracts huge crowd of walkers & joggers who tries to fight off their obesity & bulging belly. But the athletes & players were invariably from not so affluent sections without much exposure on best practices.

Certainly a reason to joy. The synthetic athletic track is ready at race course ground. It is heartening to note that it is the 2nd such track in Tamilnadu. The first one is in JN stadium at Chennai.

The track is waiting for VIPs to formally open. Sadly, the national level, Federation Cup Junior athletic championships (July 1 & 2) cannot be held there because of this. The champhionship was held at Armed Reserve ground.