‘Local bodies need to consider more playgrounds in its town planning’

Bengaluru: Transit and Open Spaces issues, and the negligence of sporting arenas in the city are few of the problems that may leave cities short with it being well-equipped to host international sporting events, according to Experts in the sports industry. This comes in the wake of India’s bid to host the 2036 Olympics. Although there is no official confirmation on the host cities, reports suggest that Ahmedabad may most likely be the chosen city.

Nandan Kamath, from Sports and Society Accelerator had reckoned that the civic planning amidst rapid urbanisation has become a larger issue, leaving the thought of having open spaces, which can hamper development of talent. His comments come at the unveiling of the "Sports Forward Nation" report on Monday, which outlines several aspects that accelerate development of sport in the country. “Open fields policies are actually very significant in many countries that there are some as parts of the city which you can never build on and I think we have to think something along similar lines,” he added. Cities like Bengaluru are emerging as one of the country's largest talent pools in various sports.

However, the diminishing public playgrounds, and the steep rise in turfs where people have to pay a certain amount to play also has hampered opportunities for those coming from humble backgrounds. To this query, Kamath opined that sport in Urban India is moving in a structured way, where private academies now take care of young children. “A lot of unstructured play does happen, especially in the streets and or in the small ground of the neighbourhood. Therefore the report advocates for local government bodies to open up spaces which go into town and city planning,” adding that a multi-sectoral initiative is necessary.