Mumbai: Iconic centre KSA seeks Uddhav Thackeray's permission to open

The Karnatak Sporting Association near Churchgate

The Karnatak Sporting Association (KSA) has sent a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray urging him to open up the Karnatak Sports Centre ground for cricket, football, volleyball and kabaddi, played regularly at their Cross Maidan venue.

The succinct letter dated October 14, stated that officials acknowledged the government's work but this was a "humble request for opening up the centre to resume sporting activities." Officials assured that "necessary precautions will be taken."

Joint Hon Secretary Jaya A Shetty said, "I have received an acknowledgement for the letter, but there is no reply as yet. We have sporting facilities and teams usually have practise sessions. Some tournament matches are played at the ground. We think practise sessions should be allowed to start at least."

KSA Caretaker Ranjit Pradhan. Pics/Suresh Karkera

Outdoor activities

Shetty said that their request was logical as in the present situation, "People are not maintaining social distance outside too. We will follow all Standard Operating Procedures. These are outdoors sports and fitness can only build immunity. So, we do have strong reasons for our case." The KSA officials said the ground closed in March, but the staff had been paid till now. "The grass, which had grown really tall, has been cut and cricket pitches have been rolled. Our groundsmen, cleaning staff have been paid in full, and earlier, our friends had donated grains too," said Shetty, who is also a Shiv Chhatrapati awardee and had organised the 2004 World Cup of kabaddi in Wadala, where 12 countries had participated.

Practise, please

Ravi Anchan, KSA vice-president stated, "We give out this ground to schools. In the morning we give it to banks for their teams to play. We were hopeful of some permissions post Diwali, but, we are now reading some reports that predict Coronavirus may increase in December, so that is a little worrying. In fact, we should be allowed to open for practice sessions if not full tournaments. The government has allowed gyms to open and that is indoor fitness. This will be outdoor activities, which we know are much safer, so we must see some acknowledgement of it." Officials claimed that the 92 year-old centre has been maintained despite all challenges.

Risky route

However, Souter Vaz, vice-president of Mumbai District Football Association said, "Team games will have high risks. We may argue that internationally, cricket and football are being played, but let us remember that there is a huge difference between the infrastructure the elite athletes have and what is provided for locals to practice. In the case of the former leagues, players are housed together in top-class hotels. They are not allowed to go out or mingle with outsiders after matches. There are regular check-ups. Here, even if permission is given to practise matches, there will still be a team, where one player may come from Bhayandar, the other from Bandra. How do you control all this? They may get together after the game, go back home, return the next day to play, having met so many people on the way. This is extremely risky." Vaz claimed individual training like jogging or exercises were relatively safer, and opening up for team games was taking a, "huge and currently unnecessary chance."

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