Kolkata: The so-called minor sports might get our attention during the Olympics. But such sports, which are mainly known as Olympic sports, fail to attract domestic attention in the state of West Bengal during normal times. Many talents from our country brought honour to the nation from international sporting events in sports like boxing, table tennis and badminton among others.
On the other hand, the people here, these days, are too engrossed with the world test championship, Euro Cup and Copa America tournaments. But none of them is aware of the condition of those associated with the so-called minor sports like boxing, swimming, table tennis and wrestling in the state during the current pandemic situation.
The state government has allowed the beginning of sports events in spectator-less stadiums beginning from June 16, 2021. Following that permission, IFA too has started the preparatory process for starting the Kolkata league and shield championships. But all are worried about how the matches will start when the state government is yet to allow the movement of public vehicles on the roads.
According to the Bengal State Table Tennis Association, Sharmi Sengupta, the association started tournaments during the Unlock period that is before the second wave of COVID-19. “We started after maintaining the COVID-19 protocols. Some tournaments had to be stalled midway. We are planning to restart them. The tournaments stopped in May this year. We will ensure vaccination of the players before they appear for the tournament, especially those who have completed 18 years. After that, we will start preparing for the next season. The players have suffered the most during the last 18 months, especially those who are in the age-group categories. But the situation is really not under our control,” she said.
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In a similar pathetic state is the Bengal swimming association. In addition, this association is riddled with factional infighting. According to the secretary of the association, Swapan Adok even if the state government has given the green signal it is not possible for them to start the process. “There is no stadium for swimming. The pools need to be maintained regularly. Only a club in College Square has an indoor pool and that too for children. For maintenance work the permission of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation is necessary. There are other problems. The monsoon has come but the pools are yet to be cleaned. Some clubs started but could finish the work. Public transport is yet to start operating. So the swimmers and coaches are facing problems commuting. I do not think that there will be any swimming tournament in this season,” he said.
A similar problem is being faced by the athletes. As the public transports including the local trains are not operating as yet, they are facing problems to reach for practice. And most of the athletes do not have financial backup to hire cars to reach the practice.
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President of state boxing federation, Asit Saha took do not hope of resuming this sport during the current season. “Boxers are continuing with shadow practice. But this cannot be continued forever. In boxing, the contenders come very close to each other. It is yet too early to say that the COVID-19 crisis is over. So we are unable to take any risk. We do not think that there will be any boxing tournament this year. But we are keeping watch on the situation and hoping for better days,” he said.
Similarly pathetic is the state of wrestling. In Kolkata currently, there are six wrestling schools. “It is impossible to maintain social distances in sports like wrestling. The sports in Bengal are heading for a dark future. We have already vaccinated the state-level and national-level wrestlers already. The vaccination of the rest will be completed soon. If everything goes all right, we will start from next week,” said an office-bearer of the state Wrestling Federation.
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