Hyderabad: Even as the State government gave a green signal for sports resumption from Wednesday, there are a few apprehensions among the sporting fraternity. While the coaches and stadium administrators await the guidelines from the Sports Authority of Telangana State (SATS), the coaches and staff are on tenterhooks.

The fact that some of the trainees are aged as low as eight years makes the situation a bit tricky. While these trainees need constant attention, maintaining social distancing and implementing the due procedure becomes a bit of a problem. However, it will also be interesting to see how many parents are willing to send their kids to the training.

Sports Minister V Srininvas Goud, after a discussion with eminent sports personalities of the State, released a set of guidelines recently. He said while following the Sports Authority of India (SAI) SOPs, the stadium should run with half capacity and athletes training on alternative days. He also added that the athletes in national camps must undergo Covid-19 tests while conducting tournaments are still not allowed.

The SATS facilities are gearing up for the reopening at its centres – Lal Bahadur Stadium, Gachibowli Stadium, Yousufguda Stadium, Saroornagar Stadium along with shooting range in University of Hyderabad and cycling velodrome in Osmania University. Though the resumption was set for Wednesday, the stadium administrators haven’t received any directions till Tuesday evening. It would require at least two days to get the stadia sanitized and make it ready for training.

The LB Stadium has as many as 18 disciplines running around the year. “Each discipline has at least 50 students in the morning and 50 in the evening and we have 18 coaches. So on a whole, there will be more than 1,500 students on regular days. Most of these trainees are from different parts of the State. They are now at their natives and we have to see how many will turn up. And we have to be careful while training as well. Once we receive the guidelines from SATS, we will start our preparations,” said Ravi Kumar, the LB Stadium administrator.

The Gachibowli Indoor stadium, which is spread across 68 acres, has an indoor stadium, athletics track, aquatic centre, skating rink, hockey grounds and a sports tower. However, the State government has turned the sports tower, built in 9.6 acres, into a covid-19 hospital and proposed to convert it into Telangana Institute of Medical Science and Research (TIMS). So how much of the area will be dedicated to this medical facility from the 68 acres is not yet clear. The administrators said that the stadium is being maintained on regular bases. The shooting range administrator Alexander Francis revealed, “Once we get orders to resume, we have to write it to the University officials to allow the trainers. We have floating trainees around 150 each day.”

Meanwhile, the centrally locked Kotla Vijay Bhaskar Reddy Indoor Stadium in Yousufguda houses eight disciplines. Built in six acres, the facility sees students in badminton, basketball, boxing, gymnastics, karate, wrestling and skating. “We have students from different age groups which is tough to maintain. Once we get the guidelines, we have to divide the students into groups and chalk out different timings to avoid crowds. Following SOPs needs practice for both coaches and students. We have to see how it pans out once we open,” said L Ravinder, the KVBR stadium administrator.

GHMC awaits instructions from Commissioner

Meanwhile, Officer on Special Duty for GHMC, Sports, SR Premraj, said that they haven’t got any instruction on resuming sporting facilities at GHMC playgrounds yet. He revealed that the GHMC has 521 play grounds, 22 sporting complexes and around 80 coaches. “We will wait for instructions from our Commissioner. We were not consulted by SATS officials on resuming any sporting activities in our facilities yet,” Premraj revealed.

Graph

SATS sporting facilities

• LB Stadium (Tennis complex, indoor stadium, skating rink, association halls like boxing, yoga, gymnastics and cricket ground)

• Gachibowli Stadium (GMC Balayogi Indoor Stadium, athletics track, aquatic centre, skating rink, hockey ground)

• Saroornagar Stadium (Indoor stadium, aquatic stadium, four tennis courts, skating rink, athletics track, cricket ground and nets)

• KVBR Stadium (Indoor stadium for badminton, basketball, boxing, gymnastics, karate, wrestling and skating)