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A vital training ground for athletes, Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru (JLN) Stadium, was left in disarray after Punjabi singer Diljit Dosanjh’s performance on October 26–27.
NEW DELHI: A vital training ground for athletes, Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru (JLN) Stadium, was left in disarray after Punjabi singer Diljit Dosanjh’s performance on October 26–27. The track was strewn with trash, beer bottles, and broken hurdles when the athletes returned to the facility on Monday, stunning them and interfering with their training plans.
A middle-distance runner from Delhi named Beant Singh posted a video of the chaos on social media, which soon attracted notice. He bemoaned, “People partied, drank, and left it in shambles, even though this is where athletes train.” Singh underlined that the stadium’s state was making it difficult for athletes to get ready for future tournaments, leaving them disgruntled and without proper amenities.
Both athletes and the general public strongly criticized the concert’s organizers. Singh explained that the event management was the target of his complaints rather than the artist. In an interview, he said that young athletes had nowhere to train because the stadium was closed for a whole week before the performance. His remarks were indicative of a larger worry about the lack of assistance given to Indian athletes. He went on to say, “People will continue to wonder why India struggles to win medals at the Olympics,” pointing to a structural problem.
The Sports Authority of India (SAI), which is in charge of the JLN Stadium, started a thorough cleanup effort in reaction to the commotion. The Main Arena will be reopened in time for an October 31 Indian Super League (ISL) game, SAI said. They informed the public that the stadium must be restored to its original state as per their agreement with the event promoters and shared pictures of the restoration work.
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But there have been repercussions from the cleanup. The synthetic track of the stadium was said to have been damaged by the cleaning equipment. Athletes’ preparations have been even more difficult as a result of having to move their training to a smaller warm-up space outside the stadium.
Speaking to The New Indian, Beant Singh stated “The stadium has been cleaned and the officials have stated that it will probably reopen after November 1. They haven’t, however, made any remarks regarding where players can practice in the interim. This ambiguity highlights how difficult it is for athletes to strike a balance between their training requirements and the venue’s multiple uses.”
The infrastructure at JLN Stadium, which was refurbished for the 2010 Commonwealth Games after serving as a famous venue for the 1982 Asian Games, has deteriorated recently. Although holding non-sporting events can bring in money (at a rate of Rs 4.5 lakh per day), this concert was the first time the primary playing area was used for this kind of event, which presented unanticipated difficulties for the sportsmen and the management.
