Nagpur: Games like hockey and football that once dominated the sporting arena in India has seen a tremendous fall in its fan falling over the past decade. Even though, very little is done for the future of the game, there are few NGOs and private academies that produce quality performers. Sachin Raut, a former national hockey player from Bramhapuri, has one goal in life. To prove that even today India does not lack quality to compete at the international stage. Rising above problems such as the lack of training facilities, equipment or proper playgrounds, the village with Raut as its sole trainer has produced an international player in Arjun Halappa and national players Praveen Dhobale and Ninad Gade. The Bramhapuri Taluka Hockey Academy (BTHA) started in 1990, initially intended to teach aspiring rural sportsmen few basic techniques of hockey. However, within the past 22 years, the academy has became the fountainhead of hockey in Vidarbha. “Though we lack infrastructure, passion and commitment from the players and the coaching staff has helped in development of the game in Chandrapur,” said Raut. Former players who have made it big from the academy come back to help in training the prospective legends. BTHA, with 350 trainees, has come under the scanner concerning its functioning because of the rift between the two hockey associations that exist viz. Hockey India (HI) and the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF). Though the academy has been dribbling past panel politics and deprivation of resources, its achievements cannot go unnoticed. If hockey players have a saviour in BTHA then, footballers have ‘Slum Soccer’, an initiative by some football enthusiasts from Nagpur. Slum Soccer was started with the aim of reaching out to the homeless using football as a tool for social improvement and empowerment.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 04:33:42 +0000
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