JAMMU: Ignoring the country’s top medal winning games, the State Sports Council has time and again approved categorization of sports.
Considering the recommendations of the sub-committee comprising of bunch of jokers, the games which could not perform well for the last fifty years at national and international level have found berth in group-A while country top and medal winning games like Shooting and others have placed in the Group-B.
Surprisingly, the State Sports Council which has presently become den of corruption, hardly a single person in it having knowledge of sports and games besides Civil Services Rules and regulation who is deciding the future of the employees.
Do not bother to seek any seeking any objection from the recognized sports bodies, Secretary Sports council Daleep Thussu has issued notification in this regard.
When asked to the minister for Youth Services and Sports, Raman Bhalla about the lesser known games found berth in the Group-A and medal winning have been placed in group- B, he said that we will re-examined the Sub Committee reports in next standing committee meeting and all those top medal winning games of the country, if left out will be considered for top group.
Meanwhile, the Sports Council in his notification informed that the categories shall remain there for next four years till March 2018. It has specifically mentioned that the games in category-A should get precedence over other games in group A and B in matters of creation of sports infrastructure.
The categorization of these sports disciplines, both recognized and unrecognized, shall be reviewed after every four year circle in accordance with the criteria adopted for the purpose.
It has been mentioned in the notification that the scale of funding to recognized associations for conduct of coaching camp and participation in zonal or national level competitions in official age groups shall be given uniformly from April 2014 irrespective of the status of the game in both Olympic and Non-Olympic sports disciplines.
However, scale of funding for domestic activities, selection trials and other tournaments on categorization basis shall remain unchanged.
Furthermore, the criterion for the selection of a sports discipline in different categories has also been laid down by the Sports Council. To earn a berth in category-A, a team has to finish among first eight at the official national championships in team as well as individual events (sub-junior, junior and senior categories) in four year circle where at least 16 states have participated.
If a discipline could not make it to the first eight places at the national level, then organization of annual district level competitions in not less than six districts in each province besides the holding of annual state championship is a must.
Similarly, for category-B, a sports discipline has to earn a place between ninth to 12th in team and individual competitions or organization of annual state level championship and district level competitions in less then six districts.
For category-C, only participation at the national level is required or holding of district and state level championships for next four years.
Notwithstanding the fact that most of the games falling in elite group-A could not fulfill the criteria, the sub-committee still recommended these events for category-A that too for the next four years.
CATEGORIES:
Olympic disciplines: Group-A: Athletics, Badminton, Volleyball, Football, Hockey, Wrestling, Handball, Table Tennis, Boxing, Judo, Taekwondo, Fencing, Kayaking & Canoeing, Weightlifting, Skiing (Ice & Snow), Rugby, Cycling, Gymnastics, Basketball and Archery.
Group-B: Rifle Shooting, Swimming and Tennis.
Group-C: Rowing, Triathlon, Equestrian and Yatching.
Non-Olympic disciplines: Group-A: Cricket, Billiards and Snooker, Golf, Chess, Powerlifting, Kabaddi, Baseball, Softball, Korfball, Wushu, Ball Badminton, Kho-Kho, Roller Skating, Mountaineering/Sport Climbing, Wrestling (Indian Style), Thang-Ta an Yoga. Goup-B: Squash, Polo, Netball, Cycle Polo, Tennisball Cricket, Carrom, Body Building, Tennikoit, Karate and Water Skiing. Group-C: Throwball, Soft Tennis, Mallakhamb, Atya Patya, Bridge, Shootingball, Tug of War, Jump Rope, Bowling (Ten Pin), Aero Sports, Motor Sports and Sepak Takraw.