SPORTS DEVELOPMENT
IN TRIPURA*
Subhasis Chanda*
Sometimes
small ones yield big things. Tripura, the tiny north-eastern state
of India, is one such example, particularly in the field of sports
and games. Recently, the highest honour in sports, the Arjuna
Award was given to gymnast Kalpana Debnath of Tripura. Laurels
were also won by Diptanu, a teenager, by winning a gold medal
and two bronze medals at the Tulit Petre Memorial International
Gymnastics competitions held in Hungary. Chaiti, regarded as the
first tribal girl in the country to have successfully crossed
over the Gulf of Torrunous in Greece, was born in Tripura.
In the field of gymnastics, followed by swimming,
Tripura has an outstanding contribution in the national and international
arena. The state has produced many talents who have brought laurels
to the nation. The first 'Arjuna' recipient from Tripura was Mantu
Debnath, presently a gymnastics coach with the Sports Authority
of India. Debnath received the highest national honour in games
and sports in 1975. Bisweshar Nandi has been captain of the Indian
Gymnastics Team for six consecutive international tournaments.
Kalpana Debnath, the second Arjuna award recipient has an enviable
careergraph to her credit with the title of "All Round Best Gymnast
of India". She also bagged a record of all gold medals in the
national championship held in Surat in 1978.
In swimming, Rati Ranjan Dhar finished the
second best in the Indo-Srilankan Palk Swimming Tournament held
in 1969. Other notable swimmers include Ganesh Naha and Chaiti
Debbarma, the former having successfully crossed the English Channel
in 1998 and the Gulf of Torrunous, in 1999 while the latter successfully
crossed 26 km. of the Gulf of Torrunous, in 8 hours and 25 minutes
in 2000.
In athletics, football, cricket and indoor
games Tripura has had nothing much to contribute. This is mainly
due to the fact that the state is regarded backward in its socio-economic
status. Also, the games and sports sector, considered as a secondary
thrust area in welfare dynamics, has received priority only during
the last few years.
Tripura is currently exhibiting some positive
traits towards development in sports and sports infrastructure
being built at the state capital, Agartala and other district
headquarters. The state government has been able to design some
pro-active sports programmes and projects for promoting games
and sports throughout the state. Physical education has been introduced
as one of the compulsory subjects from standard one to ten. Besides
distribution of sports kits in almost all schools, stipends to
deserving sports persons and incentives to the medal winners are
some of the regular promotional activities carried out by the
state government. The Tripura Sports School, first of its kind
in the north-eastern region, has been set up in Agartala with
a capacity of 30 students. It is a residential sports school aimed
at moulding and training budding talents along with providing
them general education.
Dasharath Dev State Sports complex and MBB
Lake Stadium are cited as the two milestones in the path of sports
development in the state. With the completion of the first phase
of work at a cost of Rs.6.2 crore, the 41 acre sports complex
has a gallery, a grand stand, a 400 m. track and a modern elevated
swimming pool, named Raima, dedicated to the sports persons of
the State on September 30, 2000. Out of the total expenditure
an amount of Rs. 1.99 crore was released by the Centre, Rs. 2
crore was awarded by the Tenth Finance Commission and the rest
of the amount was invested by the state government .
Raima, the first-ever swimming pool of its
kind in the north-eastern region, is a rare example in the country
in terms of its nature and dimension. The Sports Complex also
houses a sports school, established in August, 1999 where talented
boys selected from all over the state are admitted at 10 years
of age to be trained as good sportsmen. Presently, football, athletics
and swimming have been introduced.
The MBB Lake Stadium came into being in 1995
with the gala IX North-Eastern Sports Festival held in Agartala.
Since it has been leased out to the Board of Control for Cricket
in India (BCCI) for 20 years, the stadium received Rs. 2 crore
from the apex cricket board for its development. Eighty per cent
of the work has been completed to make it a full-fledged cricket
stadium. Meanwhile, a good number of state and national-level
tournaments and matches, like Deodhar Trophy and Daleep Trophy
matches were held in the stadium.The players were reported to
have been impressed by the panoramic view of the stadium.
These apart, two new mini-sports stadiums at
Kailashahar, the north district headquarters and Udaipur, the
south district headquarters, have been built with central assistance
of Rs. 12.50 lakh and Rs. 7.5 lakh respectively. The lake town
Udaipur also has a modern swimming pool with central assistance
worth Rs. 63.75 lakh. Simultaneously, four more swimming pools
at Sabroom, Belonia, Khowai and Kamalpur Sub-divisions have been
built up. A laudable initiative towards infrastructure development
in sports has recently been made by the state government with
the construction of a high-altitude playfield at Monghpui, under
Jampui hills, situated at 3000 ft. above sea level, at a cost
of Rs. 13.31 lakh, of which the North-Eastern Council released
Rs. 7.25 lakh.
In compliance with the national strategy on
rural sports to bring hidden talents scattered in rural areas
of the country to the fore, the Tripura Sports Council has laid
a thrust on school tournaments and block to state level Gramin
Krira. These efforts have resulted in good performances by the
sports persons in national and rural sports tournaments. This
was evident in the rural sports tournament 2000, held in Gandhinagar,
Gujarat where the Tripura team bagged 16 medals.
The tribals of Tripura, comprising about 31
per cent of the state's total population with a higher level of
physical fitness, physiological and morphological status with
respect to the others, seem to be a pillar of strength in the
state's sports arena. To tap their talents at the state and national
levels, they require adequate attention and nourishment. The state
policy is pro-active in this direction.
*AIO, PIB , Agartala
