After 13 years, youth will get opportunity to show their skills in ice skating, repair work of rink started
Dehradun: National and international events were to be held in this only indoor rink of the country built in Maharana Pratap Sports College, Raipur, but after its construction, except for one event, no events were held here nor did the players practice.
The youth of Uttarakhand will get a chance to showcase their skills in the ice skating rink after 13 years. For this, the work of beautifying the only ice skating rink of South-Eastern Asia, which has been in a dilapidated condition for years, has started.
National and international events were to be held in this only indoor rink of the country built in Maharana Pratap Sports College, Raipur, but after its construction, except for one event, no events were held here nor did the players practice. Actually, after the rink was built, it was being operated by a private company, but this year the government has taken over the responsibility of managing it. In such a situation, the rejuvenation of this rink has been started along with the code of conduct which ended after the completion of the Lok Sabha elections. In such a situation, the players are hopeful that they can get the benefit of the rink this year.
This ice skating rink was built at a cost of Rs 80 crore for the South-Eastern Asian Winter Games in 2011. Apart from India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka participated in this competition. President of Ice Skating Association of Uttarakhand, Shiv Painuli, said, it would be considered unfortunate that despite having a world class rink, the players of the state are going to other states to practice. In such a situation, once again the opening of the rink has raised hopes among the players that they will get facilities in their own state.Due to the poor condition of the only ice skating rink in Uttarakhand, players currently practice in other states, but those who are unable to go out are practicing on cement tracks.
Guru Dronacharya’s statue is also in bad condition: The condition of the statue of Guru Dronacharya, built at a short distance from the entrance of the Sports College, is in a bad condition. The situation is that due to lack of maintenance, grass has grown around the statue. Not only this, the idol is not even recognizable due to its color fading.
