New Delhi, Dec 15 (IANS) Indian shuttlers Saurav Ghoshal and Joshna Chinappa Wednesday said they are sad to see the state of the Siri Fort Sports Complex – the venue of the squash competition during the October Commonwealth Games.
Saurav, who is in the capital for the PSA Punj Lloyd Masters, felt the venue has been ‘untouched’ since October.
‘It is extremely sad the see this place not being used for squash,’ Saurav told IANS.
‘It feels as if the authorities have not touched the venue since the Games got over.
‘This is the best facility we have in the country and it should be a centre for the sport in North India. I hope they are listening to this,’ said the world no 22.
The sports complex is the property of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).
Joshna, who along with Dipika Pallikal is the leading female player of the country, echoed similar views.
‘The whole stadium is dusty. It gives me a feeling that nothing happened here after the mega event. We agree the atmosphere cannot be the same as what we had in the Commonwealth Games but they can certainly maintain the place. It is one of the best facilities I have seen in the world and it should be used to develop squash in the country,’ said World No. 36 Joshna, who is competing in the WISPA Punj Lloyd Masters.
At present, the Indian Squash Academy in Chennai is the only full-fledged training centre for the sport in India.
Saurav won two bronze medals while Joshna won a team bronze in the recently concluded Asian Games in Guangzhou. The two are of the view that it will be tough for India to aim for a gold in the multi-sporting events if the younger lot is not encouraged to play squash across the country.
‘We will lead to nowhere if the sport is confined to Chennai. The other big cities have clubs but not the academies. We will only get future players if there are centres in major cities,’ said Saurav.
