Hundreds of athletes and their parents staged a demonstration in Gachibowli, demanding that the State government withdraw the move to allot five acres of the GMC Balayogi Stadium sports complex to the Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences (TIMS).
“We did not object to the government’s move to allot the Games Village that had come up for the 2003 World Military Games since it was a necessity given the grim COVID-19 pandemic scenario. However, this move to allot the prime playing area of the stadium where the young, emerging as well as seasoned athletes train and have been winning medals at the highest level is deplorable,” the parents’ representatives informed the media on Friday
They mentioned the achievements of badminton champion P.V. Sindhi, who trained at the Gachibowli indoor stadium ahead of the recent Tokyo Olympics and went on to win her second Olympics medal as testimony to the importance of the world-class infrastructure created here for the 2002 National Games and the 2003 Afro-Asian Games.
In a letter to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, the GMC Balayogi Stadium Athletes (Parents) Association appealed for the need to stop encouraging non-sporting activity on the land. “If the five acres is allotted to TIMS, many athletes, including archers, will be badly affected. More importantly, the pandemic has sent a strong message that fitness is the key to ward off any virus and this move is contradictory to this considered opinion,” the association said.
