 |
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA |  |
|
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA | |
NT Bureau
Chennai, June 25:
 |
where a stadium for kabbadi will soon come up. |
Kabbadi may the sport which has seen India returning with a gold medal in the past few editions of the Asian Games. The sport however languishes without ever being noticed other than at the time of the Asiad.
Kabbadi is popular in Tamilnadu with several schools having strong teams to take part in various tournaments.
In a bid to safeguard the traditional game of Tamilnadu, V Jagadalan, the Southern Railway team coach and joint secretary of Chennai District Kabaddi Association, has apparently succeeded in obtaining the nod from the Chief Minister for setting up a kabaddi stadium in a land belonging to the State Housing Board at 10th Avenue, Ashok Nagar.
Jagadalan in a chat with News Today, said lack of infrastructure and manpower are the reasons that have hindered kabaddi from becoming a popular sport. 'Even though our national team has won gold medal at the Asian Games on a number of occasions, not much importance is given to the sport. The first and foremost duty and responsibility of every sportsman is to create more awareness about the game in the city.'
The non-availability of a separate ground to play kabaddi in the city has failed to encourage people from conducting competitions or training.
Jagadalan, keeping in mind this situation, had written a letter to the Chief Minister to consider allocating the vacant land with about 30 shops locked and in possession of the Tamilnadu Housing Board to be handed over to the Corporation for development of a modern stadium for kabaddi.
'I have sent a copy of the letter to the Mayor M Subramanian and Councilor Jayakala.The matter after proper scrutiny by the Chief Minister's Cell has been forwarded to the department concerned seeking a feasibility report. I am sure there will not be any more hurdles in this issue,' he added. A separate ground for kabaddi, will take the sport to a much higher level, he concluded.