The Hindu : Sport : Robin Singh's new venture

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 27, 2010
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Sports : General

Robin Singh's new venture

Special Correspondent

—

Robin Singh.

CHENNAI: The Robin Sports Academy and Charitable Trust (RSACT), an organisation designed by former India cricketer Robin Singh to help young athletes, was launched in the presence of V.V.S. Laxman here on Thursday.

Objective

RSACT's primary objective is to create customised programmes for promising athletes that will help them pursue both sports and academics.

Towards this objective, the organisation has enlisted the support of some of the top schools and colleges.

“The risk associated with becoming a top sportsperson is almost 100 per cent here in India,” said Robin Singh.

“You can't really afford to focus on both sports and studies, you have to give one up, and as you grow older there is very little scope for sports.

A challenge

“I've seen so many promising cricketers give up the game because of studies.

I want to take up this challenge of developing sportspeople but with them continuing to focus on education.”

One of RSACT's ambitions, Robin said, was to provide athletes the know-how needed to make it to the next level.

“A lot of sportspeople don't know what to do to maintain high standards and push them higher.

Some don't have the means. I'll be working with experts — I don't want to name any of them — to ensure those that come out of our system set high standards.”

Robin said RSACT would grow in phases. “I want to ensure we do things in a controlled manner.

We don't want numbers, we want quality. We've already identified some talent, and over the next two years we'll do the base-work needed.”

Brilliant initiative

Laxman said Robin's decision to help develop athletes was a brilliant initiative.

“The most important thing for a young player is to have the right guidance,” said Laxman.

“You need to have people around you who are balanced, who can help you deal with success and failure, and not let them affect you.

Everyone who has come in contact with Robin has benefited from his knowledge and his attitude. It's a great initiative.”

Others present at the launch included former India captain S. Venkataraghavan, former India opener W.V. Raman, L. Balaji, S. Badrinath, and M. Vijay.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport