Remember that scene from the famous Bollywood movie ‘Chak De India’, where two characters speak about how the hockey field was given for various arts and culture programmes, that would eventually destroy the playing area..That enraged every sports aficionado in the country, and rightly so. But something similar has happened once again, during the much-famed ‘Dil-luminati’ concert by Indian artist Diljit Dosanjh.
A few athletes have complained of the chaos that ensued after the two-day concert, which was attended by a 70,000 fans. The track is now covered in debris. India’s young 800m runner Beant Singh Bhinder took to social media, and asked a pertinent question, “how will the medals come”?
“This is where athletes train but here people had alcohol and partied. For this, the stadium was closed off until yesterday. The athletics equipment have been broken and thrown to the side.”
“They have mercilessly thrown the athletics equipment all over the rooms, leaving the hurdles broken,” a source from Punjab FC told Sportstar. “There is some major patch work required, which is going on right now,” the source added. So, that is where we stand right now. The athletes miss out on crucial training time, loss of equipment and facility, which in turn would haunt India.
Also, nothing against the singer, but this is the very same guy, who played ex-hockey athlete Sandeep Singh in movie ‘Soorma’, so more attention should have been paid, by whoever was responsible, to keep the sporting facility in top condition. I mean, some care from him, or from his team, or even instructions could have been dished out to the company managing the entire event. How could this still be happening in 2024, when we just had Olympics a few months back.
We seriously need to learn some basic etiquettes. This isn’t event related to sports, but will go a long way in developing a lot of various things in India. Back in 2022 FIFA World Cup, many would recall Japan’s famous 2-1 win over Germany at the Khalifa International Stadium, Qatar. The Japanese fans, all of them, got together and not only cleared the stands, but also the dressing rooms in the facility.
That gesture did not come from the satisfactory win they had secured against a top-class team, but something that is instilled in them, and practice in each and every match. I’ve myself witnessed this in Japan, where after a local baseball club game in Osaka, just about everyone cleared their mess. Long way to go!
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