The bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh means the A.P. Olympic Association, the apex body which has 51 affiliated State associations to govern various sports disciplines, will have to be split into two catering to Andhra and Telangana regions.
Interestingly, there are already separate Telangana associations for quite a long time in disciplines such as ball badminton, kho kho, kabaddi, carrom and even hockey.
The most popular sport of all - cricket - too has two separate associations - Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) and Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) catering to the needs of their respective regions.
“Once the bifurcation is complete, it is inevitable that APOA splits into two and all the other State associations follow suit,” feels K. Jagdishwar Yadav, APOA secretary and also secretary-general of Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India.
Forming the Telangana Olympic Association will do a world of good to players of both States as two teams will be in the fray, which also means more players will get opportunities, says Mr. Yadav.
Cheaper proposition
“Even in terms of expenditure, it will be much cheaper to conduct State-level meets for 10 districts of Telangana than for the entire Andhra Pradesh,” he adds.
Hockey Olympian N. Mukesh Kumar too welcomed the move, saying it would augur well for both States.
“It will mean more opportunities for players, less pressure on selection panels and better quality sportspersons being picked for both States squads.”
K. Ch. Punnaiah Choudhary, secretary of A.P Badminton Association, also echoes the same opinion. “Earlier, many State associations failed to conduct inter-district meets for want of funds, now that should not be a problem given the less number of teams from Telangana and Andhra,” he points out.
