Bhaag, young India, bhaag Satish Kumar, a Class 10 government school student, had always dreamt of becoming a cricket star like Sachin Tendulkar… that is until he watched the recently-released Bollywood movie, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag on the life of legendary Indian sprinter Milkha Singh. Inspired by the champion, Kumar went to Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium just the next day after seeing the movie and applied for training in track events, including 100m, 200m, 400m, 5000m etc running races.“Ever since my childhood I have wanted to get into sports and do something for the country. It has been cricket till now, but I think the movie has shown me the right way. Now I want to be like Milkha Singh,” says Kumar. Kumar is not alone. Coaches of various sports centres say hundreds of young people who have seen the movie are queuing up, applying for various athletics training programmes and hoping they’ll be able to replicate Milka Singh’s Rome Olympics feat – when he missed winning a medal just by a whisker. Says Jaipal Singh, a senior coach at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, “Nowadays every student coming here for admission says, ‘Sir, mujhe Bhaag Milkha Bahag jaisa bana do. Main bhi unki tarah daudna chahta hoon (Sir, I want to become another Milkha Singh, I want to run like him, help me’).” Singh says this has been the second time in his experience when so many young people, especially students from various schools and colleges, are turning up for sports training. “When the Commonwealth Games were over in 2010, I witnessed for the first time a large number of teenagers wanting to register for various games. Unfortunately, the euphoria faded after some time. Now I see another jump – but this time it’s for athletics and that too just for track events. I think the credit goes to Bhaag Milkha Bhaag,” says Singh. There are around 600 students registered at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium for both track and field training. These include 100m 200m, 400m, 5000m, 10,000m races, long jump, high jump, triple jump, followed by javelin throw, shot put and hammer throw. Out of these 600, around 180 to 200 trainees turn up regularly for daily practice. “The number of registrations as well as daily attendance have both gone up by 10% in the last two weeks,” says Singh. Kulbir Singh, another senior coach at Chhatrasal Stadium, Model Town, says the number of registrations for athletics training has gone up by 20% to 30% at their centre. “More students from private and convent schools are coming forward for athletics and all of them say the same thing … they want to run like Milkha Singh.” A smilar trend was reported from Thyagaraj Sports Complex, another popular athletics training centre in south Delhi. “I think the younger generation was not aware of Milkha’s contribution to athletics. His indomitable courage to fight all odds in life and his historic run at the Rome Olympics has been portrayed very well in the film. In fact, my students literally took me to the cinema hall to watch the movie. I told them I knew all about him but they insisted I see the movie as they found it very inspiring,’’ says SS Rai, senior coach, Thyagaraj Sports Complex. “There has been a 30% rise in the number of students with us. This could go up as the euphoria builds up further. I don’t know how long this will last and how many of our trainees will do something for the game. One thing, however, is sure. This is the right time to promote sporting activities,” adds Rai. Get trained here DDA’s athletics promotion scheme Address: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and CWG Village Sports Complex Chief coach: Dinesh Rawat Fee: Rs. 3600 monthly scholarship given to selected candidates Timings: 5pm to 8pm Entry age: 12 yrs Contact: 01126497482/26496657 DDA picks talented athletes from various school and district level competitions and award them a monthly scholarship of Rs. 3600 Jogi Throwing Club Address: DDA Park, Sector 8, Dwarka Chief coach: Jogesh Kumar Fee: Free of cost Timings: 6am to 8am and 4.30pm to 7.00pm Entry Age: 13 years Contact person: Jogesh Kumar 9717484850 For training in discus throw, javelin throw, shot put and hammer throw. Centre started by late Maj Joginder Singh an Asian Games gold medalist Thyagaraj Sports Complex Address: INA Colony, south Delhi, Chief coach: S S Rai Fee: Free of cost Timings: 5pm to 7.30pm Entry age: 12 years Contact person: S S Rai – 9968302398 The Delhi government and its education department runs various sports training schemes here Athletics training by SAI Address: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Lodhi Road Chief coach: Jaipal Singh Fee: Rs. 50 and Rs. 75 a month Timings: 3pm to 7pm Entry age: 10 years Contact number: 01124369781 Started in the 1980s, this is the biggest training centre of the Sports Authority of India Chhatrasal Stadium Address: Model Town, north Delhi Chief coach: Sunita Rai Fee: Free of cost Timings: 6am to 9am and 4pm to 7pm (summer) and 2pm to 5pm (winter) Entry age: 10 yrs Contact number: Kulbir Singh 9213227757 This is another training centre run by the Delhi govt’s education department
Posted on: Sun, 25 Aug 2013 05:06:27 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015