It is almost seven in the evening, and the athletes of SDAT Centre for Excellence and the SDAT hostel are going through their routines at the Nehru B-ground, under the watchful eyes of their coaches. While they are, no doubt, also looking out for finer aspects of technique, the coaches need to be keen-eyed just to see their wards in the twilight.
The ground has six towers with floodlights installed, but they are — inexplicably — never turned on, which means the athletes are left to train in the dark.
Premature end
Since most of the athletes are students, the training starts well past five in the evening, and as darkness sets in within an hour, they are forced to wind up prematurely.
“It is very hard for me to spot a runner on the other side of the track, and they can hardly see my signals,” said a coach, speaking to The Hindu recently.
“They also have to train carefully; there are instances of athletes suffering injuries due to the lack of light. And training at lower intensity is hardly helpful,” the coach added.
“If the authorities could just have one tower on for an hour, it would do a world of good for the athletes; they can train for close to two hours with intensity.”
An SDAT source offered clarification on Thursday, saying: “Earlier there were no permanent cables, and it was hence not possible to provide lighting. The funds have now been released to procure cables. The issue should be sorted out soon.”
It is a travesty that the athletes, for years now, have not been able to properly utilise the infrastructure facilities in place due to mere logistical issues.