SAI-RC Imphal likely to be shifted out
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, February 19 2015:
The Regional Centre of Sports Authority of India (SAI) located at Takyel, which was established in the year 1986 to groom young promising sportspersons of the Northeast, is likely to be shifted out of the State due to the apathy of the authorities concerned.
According to a reliable source, the SAI-Regional Centre, Imphal is going down rapidly and it has not been able to impart quality training to sportspersons for the last many years.
The centre is lacking almost everything, and there is strong apprehension among sportspersons and sports enthusiasts of the State that the Centre might get shifted to the newly opened Regional Centre at Guwahati.
The "downfall" of SAI-RC, Imphal is quite evident from Manipur's performance at the recently concluded Kerala National Games.
The number of medals won by the State has gone down drastically this time.
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The Regional Centre still does not have a hockey field with astro-turf, synthetic track for athletics and multipurpose indoor hall for indoor games.
The players of the Centre have to go to Khuman Lampak Sports Complex for daily practice.
They have to bear all travel expenses and buy most of the equipments of their own.
However, most of the players of SAI-RC, Imphal belong to economically backward families and they find extremely difficult to fund their training, the source said.
The archery discipline opened in 2012 at the Centre also does not have any equipment till date.
But notably, Lily Chanu of the Centre has been competing at various international competitions using her own equipments.
Above all, the academic session of the Centre has been altered causing serious inconvenience to the players.
Earlier, new players are being inducted into the Centre in the month of January every year, but it was changed to April in 2013-14 session.
The source further said that the recent establishment of another SAI-Regional Centre at Guwahati under the supervision of Union Sports Minister Sharbananda Sonowal (BJP MP from Assam) is a setback to Imphal Regional Centre.
The authorities concerned have now started to neglect the Imphal centre and begun to change their focus on Guwahati Centre.
Most of the regular Manipuri coaches at SAI-RC, Imphal will get retired from service by 2020, and thereafter only few Manipuri coaches will remain at the Imphal Centre, the source added.
Seeing the pathetic condition of SAI-RC Imphal, the players and sports lovers of Manipur have started to draw the attention of the authorities concerned to look after the needs of the players and develop the Imphal centre as one of the finest sports institutes in the whole northeast.