Srinagar, November 19: In a glaring example of sports being misused in J&K and has turned into a major scam, the recent list of Sports Category aspirants for various professional courses has thrown out some shocking revelations.
J&K Sports Council every year announces list of the eligible candidates for the Sports Category in various professional courses like MBBS, Engineering and this year too it has announced the list of eligible and rejected candidates who had applied for the Sports Category.
This year’s list includes 186 aspirants who had applied within timeframe while as seven had applied after expiry of date of submission of forms.
In total 193 aspirants had applied for the grant of sports category for MBBS, Engineering and SKAUST courses.
The list is shocking itself as majority of the applicants have applied for sports category in lesser known sports disciplines while as Olympic level or A-Category sports disciplines has got almost negligible presence.
It is as if all aspiring doctors and engineers in J&K only play games like Sqay, AtyaPatya, Soft Tennis, Tenni Koit, Squash, Thang Ta, Ball Badminton or Penkat Silat.
In a total shock, list is dominated by a lesser known martial art discipline Sqay that is claiming itself as Kashmiri martial art. It had 37 applicants with majority of them medal winner that means only one certificate needed.
Following Sqay, is Soft Tennis that has 18 applicants as if all of J&K is hub of this version of Tennis.
AtyaPatya which no body almost in J&K know what it is has got 15 applicants while as Squash has got 12 applicants. Thang Ta has got eight, Tenni Koit eight, Netball has got seven, ball badminton seven, Penkat Silat has six, Rugby five, chess four, badminton four.
Major decipline and most popular in J&K like football and cricket have got three and six applicants respectively.
Volleyball, Kho Kho, Baseball, Carrom, Softball, Basketball, Bridge, have got 3, 2, 3, 1, 3, 2, and 2 applicants respectively.
Hockey and Swimming, both Olympic level sports disciplines have got least number of applicants one each.
There are other random applicants as well but the whole list points towards one major issue, that is isn’t this a sports certificate scam going on in J&K with everyone being a mute spectator.
While Sports Council conducted fitness test for Sports Category aspirants why don’t they do same at the time of selection and screening to keep watch on these sports associations who have issued all these certificates.
A lesser known sports disciplines like Sqay, AtyaPatya, Soft Tennis, Tennis Koit, Squash and others who have issued majority of the certificates have almost no existence in entire J&K. They aren’t popular like football, cricket, volleyball, Kabaddi, watersports, winter sports but still have major contenders every year when it comes to issuance of sports category.
It is total injustice with real sportspersons who all their lives work hard and never get it’s due benifits when required. Majority of Sqay categories issued are medalists which means major points. In sports like athletics, cycling, football, cricket, swimming participation at national level is big thing and medal win is once in blue moon. The two certificates will fetch only one point while as person with medal in lesser known sports will earn six points from Sports Council.
It is duty of Sports Council to look into this issue and stop this sports certificate mafia in J&K from ruining sports of J&K. However Sports Council officials seems to have overlooked this issue for one or the other reasons.
This current list is one example and perfect case study for what has been going on in J&K for years now and why our sports is not growing.
If probed in proper way, it will reveal major scandals in sports and can help in eradicating this menace.