Kerala athletes bound for Pune living on a prayer

KOCHI: Kerala athletes who have been picked to attend the selection trials for the Indian schools team that will participate in the Asian School Field & Track Championship have not given up hope. At least 10 of them will leave for Pune on Saturday to attend the trials. But they are not carrying with them the deposit of Rs one lakh which is a pre-requisite for attending the trials according to the directive issued by the School Games Federation of India (SGFI).
The trials organised by SGFI is to be held at Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi, Pune on August 5 and 6. The SGFI had in its letter, dated 22 July, sent to all its state units, including the Directorate of Public Instructions, Thiruvananthapuram, directed the athletes to register on or before August 4 along with relevant documents such as age proof, passport and a demand draft of Rs 1 lakh in the name of SGFI, Agra. An amount of 1 lakh is out of bounds for many of these athletes but that has not prevented at least some of them from planning a trip to Pune.
TOI's report on Tuesday on the plight of school athletes' has been taken into account by the government and sources in the state education ministry said on Wednesday that the file seeking the financial fund for the athletes is with secretary, general education, state ministry of education.
SGFI have listed 106 athletes including 59 girls who have performed well in the 58th National School Games Etawah, Uttar Pradesh in February for the trials. Kerala emerged champions and PU Chitra of HSS Mundur and Mohammed Afsal of HS Parli both in Palakkad were declared champions athletes.
Out of the 27, Afsal (800m, 1500m), Jisha VV (400m, 400m hurdles), Akshaya S (5km walk race) all from HS Parli, Chitra (1500m, 300m); Abdulla Aboobaker (triple) and Babitha C (800m) of Kalladi HS; Sreenith Mohan (high jumper of Mission Gold of Kerala Cricket Association); Merlin P (100m hurdles) of St Clare's GHSS, Thrissur; Arya TS (100m hurdles of SNM HS, Vannapuram) and couple of more from Kothamangalam have booked their train tickets and are training earnestly with their coaches at their respective bases.
Some of these athletes will be forced to skip the prestigious state inter-club meet organised by Kerala State Athletics Association that will get underway at Maharaja's College from August 2 to 4.
"We cannot afford to slip a golden chance simply for want of money. The performance of these kids have been really good. None of us can raise the required money (Rs 1 lakh). We pray that better sense will prevail and the organisers (SGFI) will open their eyes seeing our plight and may allow us to attend the selection trials. Once we get selected we'll try to cobble up the amount as we'll get some breathing space," said a coach.
Asian School Field & Track Championship for under-18 boys & girls would be conducted by Malaysia School Sports Council, Division of Sports, Ministry of Education Malaysia from 17th to 24th September 2013 at Kuala Lumpur under the aegis of Asian School Sports Federation.
Athlete legend PT Usha has already declared that her two trainees - Jessy Joseph and Shaharbana Sidhique - will not participate in the selection trials for obvious reasons.