Churu has carved out a place for itself as the nursery of sports in Rajasthan. In the past few years, the district has grown by leaps and bounds, both in terms of the availability of sports facilities as well as achievements earned by its sportspersons.
This was made quite clear to the nation by the Prime Minister himself. Churu won the Prime Minister Award, in 2021 for promoting excellence in sports and wellness under Khelo India Scheme. PM Modi gave away the prize to the District Magistrate of Churu Sidharth Sihag, IAS, on 21st April 2022.
In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, DM Sidharth Sihag shared details about the same.
A THREE-TIERED SPORTS INFRASTRUCTURE
The district administration of Churu undertook a three-tiered development effort wherein the point of focus was to set up sports facilities at the district, block, and gram panchayat levels.
Firstly, a center of excellence for multiple disciplines at the district level was created under which a class I synthetic athletic track was prepared in the district stadium. Additionally, a table tennis center, kabaddi center, archery center, badminton hall, and shooting facility were functional in the district stadium and were involved in the Khelo India scheme.
Secondly, multiple sporting centers were operationalized at different blocks, which were run both in government as well as private facilities, for comprehensive convergence of efforts of various stakeholders.
Thirdly, the district consistently improved its infrastructure, not just at the elite centers level, but also at the grassroots. There are 292 schools in the district where playground has been developed since 2019. This has been done using funds in convergence from various schemes such as Nrega, MP LAD, MLA LAD, SFC/FFC, and through public contribution. The district is steadily progressing towards its goal of providing playing fields and courts for basketball, volleyball, kabaddi, kho-kho, and running track in every gram panchayat.
SPORT ACHIEVEMENTS
The achievements in terms of medals and participation in national-level competitions are proof of the fact that Churu is punching above its weight. The district has the second-highest number of participants, after the capital Jaipur, who participated in various national-level games. The participation from Churu was higher than all other divisional headquarters and all the districts of the Bikaner division.
Even more remarkably, the medal tally of Churu is truly astonishing. Rajasthan won a total of 51 medals in individual events in Khelo India Games. Out of these, 10 medals were won by sportspersons from Churu, which is almost 20% of the total medal haul.
FEMALE PARTICIPATION
It has been a constant endeavor under the Khelo India scheme to push the female participation rate as much as possible and gradually bring it to par with the male participation rate. Churu has been a trailblazer in this regard.
The number of female athletes participating in the 2020 Khelo India games was 11 compared to just 6 in the previous version, which marks an increase of a whopping 83%. Furthermore, of the 20 individual medals won by female athletes from Rajasthan in the latest Khelo India games, 7 medals have been won by athletes from Churu, which is a phenomenal 34%. So, every third medal won by female athletes in Rajasthan was won by female athletes from Churu.
Similarly, when it comes to participation in other national-level competitions, of the 73 athletes who have represented Churu in the past 2 years, 35 were females, which is almost 50% of the total participation.
OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS
It has been a focus area of the Churu District Magistrate to promote rural and tribal games such as kabaddi, archery, etc. to enable a far greater segment of the population to attain fitness by engaging themselves in their traditional sports.
Further, the district has pioneered a ‘pay and reside model’, which is a scheme under which athletes are provided accommodation within the stadium at a nominal fee per month. This comes with the obvious advantage of letting the athlete focus exclusively on his sport by allowing him to stay on-site and be in continuous touch with the coach.
The sporting culture of the district has led to the emergence of Churu as a cradle for the armed forces, as every village boasts of sending multiple youths to the armed forces every year.
“We endeavor to reach out to the maximum number of youth and draw them into the orbit of sports. Towards this end, we have organized 11 Aakashwani programs with important personalities. We are blessed to have Khel Ratna awardee Devendra Jhajharia, and CWG Gold medallist Krishna Poonia as well as two Droncharya Awardees Virender Poonia and Anoop Kumar in the district, who serve as inspiration for the youth,” Mr. Sihag said.
Even though the district lags in many human development indicators such as literacy rate, child immunization, malnourishment, stunting among children, and anemia among girls, it is proving to be a worthy legacy of the Khelo India program and living up to the hope that a brilliant sporting culture can be built even while struggling to overcome various human development indicators.
