ISL has left Indian athletes with nowhere to go, laments Anju George

ISL has left Indian athletes with nowhere to go, laments Anju George

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Long jumper Anju Bobby George has lashed out at ISL for bulk booking venues that have left no training spaces for the athletes. AFI secretary C.K. Valson has further revealed that only after AFI had threatened to pull out of the event did Khelo India Games got the permission at the Nehru stadium.

With two new teams, Bengaluru FC and Jamshedpur FC, further adding to ISL this season, the otherwise three-month Indian professional football league had to be extended to a full five-month campaign. And the expansion seemed to have come as a huge blow to the athletics fraternity of the nation, who have found it difficult to get places for training.

Ahead of the 22nd Federation Cup, which is scheduled to start from March 5, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has slammed ISL for taking over their venues claiming that the athletes are "struggling for existence". Valson also revealed that they have been forced to move their event to Patiala for the second year in the running after they were not allotted any slot in Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium owing to ISL. 

“There is no space for training or competitions. We are struggling at all venues and only Patiala is available for us. ISL has taken over all stadia across the country as bulk booking for 6-7 months. There can be no throw or field events because we are not allowed. Venues like Chennai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Kochi and Kolkata all traditionally host so many events across the year but now nothing is possible,” reported The Hindu.

Anju, the sole Indian athlete with a World Championships medal, didn’t hold back anything either, as she revealed that she had to fight the sports ministry in order to block ISL’s move to build a football training site at the expense of an athletics track inside Bengaluru’s the Sports Authority of India (SAI) regional centre.

“Football is taking over all our athletics stadiums — in Delhi, Kochi, Bengaluru and elsewhere — and the athletes are struggling to even find space to train. Athletes are struggling even for their existence and fighting everywhere. Where will we go if ISL takes over everything?” said Anju, who was present to announce that the Federation Cup National Senior Athletics Championships would be held in Patiala.

“Look at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi, Kanteerava stadium in Bengaluru or JLN Stadium in Chennai. You cannot use these venues as a football tournament is going on. Where do the athletes go? These stadia in Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru have good tracks and are basically meant for athletics tournaments. They are not being used for that now.” 

However, SAI is not solely to blame for it as one of the officials clarified, claiming that ISL provides money to help upkeep the venues that the AFI cannot. 

“To maintain infrastructure across cities, the SAI needs money and the ISL clubs are paying. The AFI isn’t. These are all multisport venues and all the federations have to plan their competition calendar accordingly,” the official said to TOI, reacting to AFI’s claims.

On further enquiry by TOI, an ISL official accepted to offer an insight how much the ISL clubs are shelling out to keep the venues. 

“Each ISL club is paying the SAI anywhere between Rs 1 to 1.5 crore for the entire season. Dynamos paid Rs 1.2 crore for their home matches. Chennaiyin FC paid the JLN stadium authorities Rs 1.7 crore for the season. Bengaluru FC paid roughly around Rs 1.2 crore and ATK has paid Rs 1 crore. The staggering amount itself tells the story,” said the official.

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