Despite having produced at least 20 international judokas, UP has only one judo hall, which was built recently.
* As many as eight coaches, who spotted and guided judokas of the state to win over 150 national and international medals in last ten years, are yet to get government jobs.
* Requisitions for basic judo infrastructure have been gathering dust with the state government for the past seven years.
Garima Chaudhary (17) from Meerut and Ram Asrey (25) from Varanasi won three gold medals at the recently concluded Commonwealth Judo Championship in Mauritius. Those managing the Japanese martial art in the state, however, are not very optimistic of the results helping in waking up the officials of the UP government from deep slumber and take note of the pitiable sports infrastructure in the state.
“After hockey, judo probably is the only sport which has produced so many international players in UP,” said UP Judo Association Secretary Munawar Anzar.
“Our players have won laurels at many national and international competitions, but still the sport is cold shouldered by government in Lucknow,” said Garima’s coach and UP Judo Association Vice President A C Saxena said.
There is not even a single committed judo hall anywhere in the state, including Lucknow, Saxena added.
Saxena’s statement was, however, countered by the deputy director (sports) of UP, Anil Kumar Banaudha. “It is wrong. We have at least one judo hall built in Saharanpur recently, while another one is proposed in Lucknow,” he told The Indian Express.
Besides, we are also working on availing more judo infrastructure in the state, which is replete with champion judokas, he added.
Anzar, a former international judo referee, however, said: “It has been seven years since we have been requesting for bare minimum infrastructure for judokas. Our requests to have proper infrastructure and introducing judo in sports hostels and sports colleges of UP have fallen on deaf ears.”
He said that he had requested at least three different chief secretaries for allotting them land to build a Judo Academy in the state, but it never materialised.
The state’s recent fame in producing many judokas is attributed to the passion of coaches for the sport. There are others who are not professional trainers but come forward to help the sport out of sheer love. For example, CRPF sub-inspector Partho, presently posted at the Ram Janmabhoomi Complex in Ayodhya, who is a seasoned judoka from West Bengal and is here in Varanasi with four trainees to participate in the ongoing Judo Championship.
The state has eight NIS certified coaches at Saharanpur, Lucknow, Mathura, Ferozabad, Meerut, Moradabad, Kanpur and Varanasi, but none of them have been made permanent employees.
“Tell me what is going to motivate them?” asked Anzar, who said that even two judo specific Sports Officers in Hardoi and Bulandshahar have now moved to administrative work and less into coaching.
Lal Kumar, an NIS certified coach and former national games bronze medallist from Punjab, joined the Varanasi Stadium in 1993 at a monthly payment of Rs 300 and now gets a monthly contractual remuneration of Rs 7,000.
Three of his trainees including Ram Asrey, German Yadav and Shambhu Pal, however, have secured permanent jobs in UP Police, CRPF and SSB respectively.
“There is no hope for me at the age of 40 years of becoming a permanent UP government employee, which is why now I am studying journalism and public relations to get a more paying job,” said Kumar, accredited with sparking a judo revolution in Bhatti village of Varanasi, which houses Ram Asrey, German and 13 other champion judokas.
Banaudha said: “We have to take care of all games and we are still trying to include Judo in sports colleges and hostels. But we cannot do much about making the contractual coaches permanent employees, as there is no plan in this direction as off now.”
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