SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said athletes in the Union Territory need better sporting infrastructure, training facilities and financial support to compete effectively at national and international levels.
Speaking at an event in Srinagar, Omar said JK remained behind in terms of sports infrastructure and stressed the need for sustained investment to help athletes translate their hard work into results.
“The right fruits of hard work will come when you get the right facilities. We are quite behind in this regard and need to improve going forward,” he said.
The Chief Minister pointed to the limited availability of synthetic tracks in JK, saying local athletes were competing against sportspersons who had access to better facilities and training throughout the year.
“I can count the synthetic tracks on fingers. I can see only four. When we cannot provide our athletes with synthetic tracks, what medals can we expect from them?” Omar said.
“Your competition is with those who are practising for 12 months of the year,” he added.
Omar also called for greater use of JK’s high-altitude areas for sports and training, while stressing the need to support both established and emerging sporting disciplines.
He said excessive focus on cricket had resulted in other sports receiving comparatively less attention and funding.
“Unfortunately, when we talk about sports, perhaps more than 80 percent of the attention goes towards cricket. Most of the money is also in cricket, followed by football and then other sports,” he said.
The Chief Minister said greater participation across sporting disciplines was necessary if India was to improve its performance at international competitions, including the Commonwealth Games.
“If we really want to achieve something in competitions like the Commonwealth Games and other international events, we have to participate in different kinds of sports,” he said.
Omar also linked the promotion of sports with efforts to combat drug abuse, saying sustained sporting opportunities could help keep young people away from drugs.
“Staying away from drugs cannot be a slogan for just one day in the year. It has to be for 12 months in a year, and that will happen only when we provide infrastructure for sports,” he said.
He assured that the government would make efforts to promote sports across Jammu and Kashmir.
