Athletes’ wait for synthetic track’s renovation knows no end

Ludhiana: The condition of synthetic tracks at Guru Nanak Stadium, which has not been renovated since the past 16 years, constitutes as the major issue for local athletes who will be casting their votes on May 19. The sportspersons who undergo training on a regular basis the 400m track there have been facing a lot of problems.
The local athletes have time and again raised the issue with the concerned authorities, but nothing has been done in this direction. With the poor condition of tracks, the local atheletes are not left with much option but to continue their training despite the tracks being in a deplorable condition.
General secretary of Ludhiana district athletic association Prem Singh said, “There are several issues like lack of proper drinking water supply, poor condition of sewerage, roads and streetlights which were mostly taken up by politicians during their election campaigning. None of them talked about the poor condition of sports infrastructure and synthetic track of the stadium.”
He added that players are getting injured while practising on the worn-out athletic tracks. He said: “16 different political parties came here to assess the state of the stadium, but none showed interest to develop the sports infrastructure in city. Members belongs to athletic fraternity are hoping that the newly elected members of parliament from district will look after our needs.”
One of athletes, Anuraj Sharma, said, “The synthetic track needs to be renovated immediately as it is making athletes prone to injuries. I will cast my vote only for those who assure us that the track will be renovated so that we can also compete at state and national level.”
The Congress candidate Ravneet Singh Bittu, talking about the issue said, “The party has already started working to transform the city parks and in the upcoming years, it will develop modern sports infrastructure for local athletes in the city. Last year too, the party made many open air gyms in the city proving its concern for sports lovers.”