Mangaluru : The Youth Services and Sports Department is contemplating the use of the services of physical education directors of government first-grade colleges to take care of the taluk and the district stadiums.
They will also be given the responsibility of training athletes at these stadiums. Minister of State for Youth Services, Sports and Fisheries K. Abhayachandra Jain said that he wants to make better use of the physical education directors. “There are around 200 physical education directors in the State. They stand at a better position to take care of the stadiums and lend their expertise for budding sportspersons,”
Speaking after inauguration of the sports meet for the district working journalists on Sunday, Mr. Jain said that he had begun the practice in Udupi and it will shortly be replicated in Raichur. Roshan Kumar Shetty, the physical education director of Dr. G. Shankar Government First Grade College, Udupi, has been made the in-charge Assistant Director of the Udupi District Stadium, which is adjoining the college premises.
“This has shown results and there is a marked improvement in the facilities at the stadium,” Mr. Jain said. Consequently he has entrusted Mr. Shetty with the responsibility of making arrangements for athletes for the upcoming 19th Federation Cup Senior National Athletics Tournament that starts from April 30 in Mangaluru.
Mr. Jain said that such a measure would address the shortcoming in the Youth Services where people holding the posts of Assistant Directors lacked the knowledge of sports. “They get promoted from the post of clerk and reach the post of Assistant Director,” he said. These Assistant Directors lacked the knowledge of the requirements at the stadium and the athletes.
The Minister said that he would be raising the issue before the Chief Minister and also the Higher Education Minister R.V. Deshpande. It would be a win-win situation for the department as it would save money on one end and use the expertise of physical education directors for the development of sports in the State, he added.
S. Murugan presided over the function.
Apt for the sunny weather, the day’s events started with an ice-cream eating competition. This event was followed by a banana eating competition that had similar rules. Then were sprint events that tested the endurance of journalists. Few could not complete the distance and opted out midway. A woman journalist collapsed due to the heat while attempting to run. Much of the focus was on the four-over underarm tournament in which 10 teams took part. One of the teams was the Media Club team that came second in a State-level cricket tournament held in Madikeri recently.
The team from Namma TV, a private local channel, won the final match defeating the team from Spandana TV, another local channel.