Go, get medals; so what if you travel 1,000 km standing
GU, GTU send their women basketball teams to Gwalior without confirmed rail tickets to compete in the zonal tourney; 28 players will reach venue today and begin medal quest tomorrow morning
Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Tuesday, November 06, 2012 http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/2/2012110620121106021257806d1ca7335/Go-get-medals;-so-what-if-you-travel-1000-km-standing.html
Go a thousand kilometres standing, compete against the best, and bring back medals. This is the mantra of the state’s two leading varsities -- Gujarat University and Gujarat Technological University. They have sent their 16-member teams on a nearly 24-hour train travel without any confirmed ticket to Gwalior to participate in West Zone Inter-University Basketball (women) tournament from November 7. Girls and their parents wouldn’t speak for fear of being victimised, but it does not take any genius to empathise with the 28 players and four officials accompanying them.
They have to brave the 1029-km train travel without any reservation, reach the destination via Bhopal around 6 pm on Tuesday and begin their campaign at 7 the next morning. University officials say they received the date of the tournament only on October 10 and hence could not manage confirmed tickets for the girls. When pointed out that the host, Laxmibai National University of Physical Education, had sent the letter containing the details of the tournament on August 22 and posted it on its website, too, GU Physical Education Director B D Vanar retorted, “If getting confirmed tickets is possible, get them for us.”
An unruffled Vanar added, “We tried our best. We contacted travel agents, too, but we did not get reserved berths. Normally these events are organised around Diwali and it is always difficult to get confirmed tickets around this time. There is no quota for sports persons.” The 32 young players, mostly teenagers, and their parents were in for a shock when they arrived at Ahmedabad railway station to board Somnath-Bhopal Express. Their officials had misled them on the ticket status during the 10-day selection trial camp at Vasad, near Anand. “We were told that tickets were confirmed. Our parents were naturally relieved.
However, when we reached the station, we realised that we were misinformed. We have managed to board the train. It is night journey and it is very difficult as other passengers would not like to be disturbed,” said a player when the train reached Vadodara around 9.15 pm. To their relief, two students from the university, Bhavin Rathod and Ankit Gandhi, were also travelling by the same train on confirmed berths. They offered them space so that some of them get a place to sit. “We saw the plight of the girls and their parents.
It was pathetic. We have tried to help them, but we have only two berths to be share among 34 people!” they said. The train is scheduled to reach Bhopal at 10.30 am. The team will board another train to Gwalior from there. They are expected to report to the tournament organising committee by 6 pm on Tuesday and the competition begins at 7 am the next morning. This means the players will hardly get time to recover from the travails of the train journey.
Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Tuesday, November 06, 2012 http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/2/2012110620121106021257806d1ca7335/Go-get-medals;-so-what-if-you-travel-1000-km-standing.html
Go a thousand kilometres standing, compete against the best, and bring back medals. This is the mantra of the state’s two leading varsities -- Gujarat University and Gujarat Technological University. They have sent their 16-member teams on a nearly 24-hour train travel without any confirmed ticket to Gwalior to participate in West Zone Inter-University Basketball (women) tournament from November 7. Girls and their parents wouldn’t speak for fear of being victimised, but it does not take any genius to empathise with the 28 players and four officials accompanying them.
They have to brave the 1029-km train travel without any reservation, reach the destination via Bhopal around 6 pm on Tuesday and begin their campaign at 7 the next morning. University officials say they received the date of the tournament only on October 10 and hence could not manage confirmed tickets for the girls. When pointed out that the host, Laxmibai National University of Physical Education, had sent the letter containing the details of the tournament on August 22 and posted it on its website, too, GU Physical Education Director B D Vanar retorted, “If getting confirmed tickets is possible, get them for us.”
An unruffled Vanar added, “We tried our best. We contacted travel agents, too, but we did not get reserved berths. Normally these events are organised around Diwali and it is always difficult to get confirmed tickets around this time. There is no quota for sports persons.” The 32 young players, mostly teenagers, and their parents were in for a shock when they arrived at Ahmedabad railway station to board Somnath-Bhopal Express. Their officials had misled them on the ticket status during the 10-day selection trial camp at Vasad, near Anand. “We were told that tickets were confirmed. Our parents were naturally relieved.
However, when we reached the station, we realised that we were misinformed. We have managed to board the train. It is night journey and it is very difficult as other passengers would not like to be disturbed,” said a player when the train reached Vadodara around 9.15 pm. To their relief, two students from the university, Bhavin Rathod and Ankit Gandhi, were also travelling by the same train on confirmed berths. They offered them space so that some of them get a place to sit. “We saw the plight of the girls and their parents.
It was pathetic. We have tried to help them, but we have only two berths to be share among 34 people!” they said. The train is scheduled to reach Bhopal at 10.30 am. The team will board another train to Gwalior from there. They are expected to report to the tournament organising committee by 6 pm on Tuesday and the competition begins at 7 am the next morning. This means the players will hardly get time to recover from the travails of the train journey.
