Usha’s dream on track

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In February 2011, when Union Minister of Sports and Youth Development , Ajay Maken visited Usha School of Athletics in a rustic village of Kozhikode, everyone thought it was a usual visit.

But minutes after watching the players training in an uneven mud court, he declared that a synthetic track worth `5 crore would be laid.

Eight months after the announcement, work on the much-needed track is about to kick off and P.T. Usha is grateful to the union minister for his helping hand.

“Players from Malabar region were going to Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram to train on synthetic track. It was very difficult for them as they would have to forsake their studies to camp in a different place and train.

“Due to the lack of synthetic track for training, several of our athletes are getting injured easily during national and international meets.

It will be a boon for the athletes in Malabar to avail of such a training facility. The athletics school has already made an impact in the sports arena of the country and this will boost the confidence of the players,”she said.

She explains that the athletic school needs more facilities to groom international athletes. “We have a slow and steady growth policy. When we started in 2002, there was no ground for us to practice.

The best products from our school including Tintu Luka practised on beach during that time. Later in 2006, the present land at Kinaloor was allotted and we made a mud court at the place for training,” she said.

“We need more buildings to operate. We were given imported foreign gym equipment and we are not able to use it effectively because of lack of space in the hostel. Also, the sports medicine unit is crippled by lack of space.

“If the government provides, a small gallery and a building near the upcoming synthetic track, then several meets can be held here without any difficulty.

We have a mud track near the upcoming track and players can use this as the warming-up place during athletic meets. We can produce talents, if we have good facilities,”she said.