The Hindu : Sport : Anju rues lack of infrastructure

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 21, 2005

Sport

Sport - Sports : General

Anju rues lack of infrastructure

Staff Reporter

KANNUR: India's ace long-jumper Anju Bobby George on Tuesday lamented on the lack of basic infrastructure required for imparting international training for athletes within the State.

Addressing a press meet organised by the Kannur Press Club, Anju said world level performances required a lot of effort from the athlete. Young athletes were not taking that initiative because there was no infrastructure to support their efforts, she said.

Acknowledging that it was the Tamil Nadu Government that supported her, she said that Kerala was yet to have a synthetic track and multi-gym required for the training of the athletes here. She said that not a single athlete trained in the State had recorded any good performance in any international championship during the last five years. Many talented students were dropping out because of poor facilities in sports hostels which were invariably unhygienic, said Bobby George, coach and husband of Anju. He said coaches themselves required good exposure, training and interaction to equip them to properly guide athletes. He said that the Indian Government had agreed to grant Anju a physiotherapist-cum-masseur for the next season.

Confident

Exuding confidence that she could win a medal in the next Olympics, Anju said that after her good performances in Helsinki, Monaco and Incheon in South Korea, her goal was to cross seven metres, while Bobby George said that Anju had the speed and explosive strength to achieve that goal.

Anju said she would start her next season by participating in the Commonwealth Games to be held in Melbourne. She would fly to California after a short break after that event to get specialised training. Then she would come back before going to Bangalore to start her preparations for the Doha Asian Games.

"An Olympic medal makes an athlete total. Last time she lost it, but we have the confidence that she can make it next time," Bobby George said.

To a question, Anju said that she was fully satisfied with her training under her husband. It was his training that equipped her to participate in the international events, she added. To another question on the money spent to participate in international meets a year, she said that the flight charges alone would be around Rs. 40 lakhs. She said that Nike and the Cochin Refineries had offered sponsorship to her.

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