Rs 400 cr and a year later, Balewadi still off international mark
Indian Express: It has been over a year since the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports City at Balewadi was made fully functional at a cost of around Rs 400 crore to host the Commonwealth Youth Games. But events at the complex over the past 12 months — two world junior meets, badminton and volleyball followed by an amateur cadet wrestling and a world carrom championship — do not make for a truly international calendar.
After the World Junior Badminton Championship in November 2008, nine months passed before the stadium landed the World Junior Volleyball. But there was no proper place to host it and so the badminton hall was converted into a volleyball arena.
Simultaneously, the World Amateur Cadet Wrestling Championship was hosted in a nearby hall before the World Carrom Championship in August. The next international event, the Under-18 Asian Women’s Basketball, is slated for December, again in the badminton hall. The calendar looks pretty bare thereafter, as the stadium will have to wait till August next when the Asian Grand Prix Athletics will come to Pune. Of the Rs 400 crore spent on the complex, Rs 150 crore went into the hockey polygrass stadium alone. The badminton hall cost Rs 76 crore and Rs 35 crore was spent on the shooting range. While the table tennis hall accounted for Rs 10.87 crore, renovation of the athletics stadium required Rs 23 crore.
Between the swimming pool, wrestling hall, weightlifting hall, boxing hall and tennis courts, the government spent another Rs 40 crore. The water and electricity bills come at over Rs 7 crore per annum. It costs the state government another Rs 1 crore a year to maintain the stadium.
But Sanjay Sabnis, assistant director of the Balewadi sports complex and the man in charge says too many events cannot be held as Pune cannot afford them unless spaced out properly.
“Though this would harm pitch conditions, we are forced to host such events for revenue. We have allotted a separate land behind the swimming venue for events like these to solve this problem,” said Sabnis.
There are questions on whether the complex is being maintained as per international standards. Ask Jose Brasa, the Team India Hockey coach, and he has uncomplimentary things to say about the pitch. At the start of the training camp in June, Brasa was not able to conduct regular practice sessions for the team because of ‘weak sprinkler systems’. The result: the team was left without a pitch to practise for three days. Complaints about pitch material not meeting international standards are common. “The ball skips off the surface resulting in injuries to players,” said Brasa.
Part of the Commonwealth Games menu Rugby Sevens have a lot of complaints from national coaches Norman Laker and Hendre Marnitz. “The ground is harder than a cricket pitch. You can’t expect to play rugby on a patchy rock-strewn field as it causes injuries,” said Marnitz. The swimming venue, which was used for a national diving competition, is open to public for daily use but is found wanting on the hygiene front.
Sabnis, however, puts up a brave face: “The money has been properly utilised for maintenance of facilities.”
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