Politics in this country can sweep anything under the carpet in no time; and sports has been its favourite prey since ages. A recent example of a sports event being rescheduled because of political compulsions, is the 25th Haryana State Olympic Games. These were earlier scheduled to take place between October 8 to 11, but will now take place from October 20 to 23, in Gurgaon. “Games were rescheduled because of the by-election to the Hisar Lok Sabha seat, which is scheduled on October 13. However, we have finalised the new dates for the games, and now this State Sports Carnival will take place from October 20,” said Surender Dangi, Joint Secretary, Haryana Olympics Association (HOA), Chandigarh, in a telephonic conversation with Friday Gurgaon. Dangi added, “No VIP would have been available on those three days, that’s why the Association decided to change the dates.” District Sports Officer, Kulvinder Singh further added, “We are going to have a nice opening and closing ceremony, and we want important politicians to be present during these two ceremonies.” He later spoke about the preparations, “Preparations for the games are going on very nicely. Almost all the teams have been selected, and practice is going on in the camps. I hope Gurgaon will finish amongst the top districts.” Skating would not take place locally, as confirmed by Dangi, “Skating will take place in Faridabad, because Gurgaon doesn’t
have the required infrastructure.”
Is Gurgaon ready?
Although Gurgaon, and HUDA in particular, often boast of having a very good sports complex—the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex—but even so, it will be unable to host all the games under its roof. “A major part of the games will take place in Tau Devi Lal Stadium; but unfortunately, some games cannot be held there, because of lack of facilities,” rued Surender Dangi. Out of the 31 games scheduled to be played during this Carnival, 11 will take place in Tau Devi Lal Stadium. Nehru stadium is another venue where a few games like handball, hockey, gymnastics are likely to take place. “Both Tau Devi Lal and Nehru stadium will have the lion’s share in hosting the games. Apart from these two places, we are looking at the Gaushala area—Central School’s ground—and a few private schools’ grounds. I hope everything will be sorted out soon,” said Dangi. “Kabaddi and kho-kho are most likely to happen in the Gaushala area,” he added.
Football camp started
“Gurgaon’s football team has started practising for the 25th Haryana State Olympics Games, going to be held in Gurgaon next month. A group of 40 promising footballers have started practice at Tau Devi Lal Stadium, and fitness coach Mahinder Singh Saroha is highly optimistic about Gurgaon’s show during the Carnival, “All the boys are in good shape, and God willing, we will definitely finish first on the podium.”
List of the games
Archery
Athletics
Basketball
Boxing
Badminton
Chess
Cycling
Fencing
Football
Gymnastics
Handball
Hockey
Judo
Kabaddi (NS)
Kabaddi (Circle)
Kho-Kho
Karate
Lawn Tennis
Netball
Skating
Shooting
Swimming
Taekwondo
Table Tennis
Throw-ball
Triathlon
Ten-Pin bowling
Volleyball
Weightlifting
Wrestling
Wushu
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