Finally, skating c’ship venue decided

Deepankar Sharda

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 21

After a few days of uncertainty, the UT Education Department on Monday finally decided to host the inter-school skating championship at the Sector 10 rink.  

The decision, though, has evoked a mixed response as there is a section of players and their parents who are opposed to the idea of hosting the event at the Sector 10 rink. Earlier, parents of 55 skaters had questioned the Education Department’s motive behind shifting the venue to a Sector 7 based school.

“There was some confusion among the parents and the higher authorities. We were always in favour of organising the championship at the Sector 10 skating rink. However, due to some technical glitches there was a delay in releasing the official statement in this regard,” a member of the state sports committee said while seeking anonymity. 

The competition will start from August 24 and the players have been told to report to the venue at 8 am. 

Meanwhile, the group of parents who were in favour of conducting the championship at the Sector 7 based school said their wards would wear black badges during the competition to protest Education Department’s latest decision. They also said they would move court.

“Our kids will participate in the competition but they will wear black badges to register a strong protest against the Education Department’s decision. We will also file a PIL in the Punjab and Haryana High Court… The Sector 10 skating is not suitable to host such championships,” said one of the parents.   

The parents claimed that the Sector 10 rink had 75m-long track for rink races, while the Sector 7 rink had a proper 100m track. “The national championships are held on 200m tracks, but we don’t have any such facility in the city, so the Sector 7 rink is the best possible platform to organise such a championship,” claimed one of the skaters. 

Interestingly, the Sector 10 rink was built by the UT Engineering Department in 2014 at a cost of Rs 60 lakh. But in the absence of a proper racing track, it has mostly remained unused.  

Despite several visits by the UT Administrator and other top officials of the administration, the track has not been upgraded.