Tejashwi Prasad Yadav blames Bihar govt for no representation in Olympics

PATNA: Leader of opposition in the state assembly, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, on Monday blamed lack of infrastructure for sports and games, no training institute and government’s ignorance towards this field as a reason that no sportsperson from Bihar represented the country in the Tokyo Olympics, which ended on Sunday.
He said due to the lack of facilities and opportunities, sportspersons of Bihar either move to other states for training or parents do not permit their wards to choose this field.
“During Olympics, people of Bihar enjoyed like other countrymen. They were happy for India’s win and also felt sad when we lost. But one thing which is hitting each and every Bihar native is that in spite of having a population of 13 crore, we did not have a single representation in this world level sports event,” said Tejashwi. He gave the example of 1996 cricket World Cup match organized in Bihar, which he said was the last international match played in the state.
He also cited the examples of other states, which promote sports culture and give job opportunities to sportspersons. “Smaller states like Manipur, Punjab and Haryana are doing much better than Bihar in the field of sports. In fact, Haryana and Punjab give government jobs and promotions to sportspersons who bring laurels to the state. Even in Bihar, we have sports quota in jobs, but only people close to the government get benefited,” he alleged.
Tejashwi recalled the promises made by his party in its manifesto for the 2020 assembly elections. It included formation of a Sports Policy. “I am thankful to the state government for analysing our manifesto and giving nod to a sports university which was mentioned in it,” he said.
JD(U) state spokesperson and former captain of Patna University volleyball team, Ranbir Nandan, hit back at Tejashwi saying the RJD leader should better recall the condition of sports during his parents’ regime. “Munna Mustaq, who was the minister in-charge of sports when Lalu Prasad was the CM, used to call himself a minister with nil budget,” said Nandan, adding, “We are thankful to our CM Nitish Kumar for putting all efforts for improving sports infrastructure in Bihar. Now our state will be among the selected few states of the country to have a sports university.”