NU mulls holding dist-wise inter college sports events

Nagpur, May 20

With a view to increase the participation in inter-college sports events and cut travel expenditure, the department of sports and physical education of RTM Nagpur University is thinking about holding district-wise inter-college sports events from the forthcoming session. It will also help the university enhance the performance of its athletes in the prestigious Khelo India University Games in which Nagpur finished 24th this year, behind Mumbai, Pune, and Kolhapur.

Director of Department of Sports and Physical Education of RTM Nagpur University Dr Sharad Suryavanshi said the proposal had already been discussed in the Senate meeting and now they are waiting for approval of the board of physical education. “We will discuss it in the board meeting soon and see how it will be implemented effectively,” said Dr Suryavanshi.

As per new format, Nagpur city, Nagpur rural, Bhandara, Gondia, and Wardha will be the district units. First the inter-college sports events will be organised in each district and first four teams from each will qualify for the Nagpur leg . “The idea is to increase participation of students. Quite a few colleges affiliated with university are private. It is not possible for them to send their teams to Nagpur and give TA, DA to students on a regular basis. It always results into less participation and the eligible students are also deprived of sports' grace marks.”

Dr Suryavanshi gave the example of university women’s hockey in which hardly 4-5 teams participate. This year only 6 to 7 girls registered their names for gymnastic event. The new format is expected to overcome this problem.

Dr Suryavanshi stated the university sports department was seeking information from each college about available infrastructure of the game. “We are also planning to appoint one teacher coordinator in each district for each game and they will take care of sports events. We will take the help of recognized district sports associations and District Sports Office to conduct the events,” he said.

The strength of the teams for the Nagpur leg will be decided on the number of participation of the teams at district level. “In some games like wrestling, kabaddi, football, and cricket we have huge participation. Therefore from the quarterfinal stage, the teams will come to Nagpur. In some games, we don't have much participation. In those games, teams can directly come for semifinal,” Dr Suryavnashi said.

--