School Sports Games near onset: Students fear overlapping schedules, fixture congestion

Kozhikode: Only two days remain before the opening whistle blows on the brand-new synthetic track for the much-awaited Kerala State School Games. With the event set to kick off, Minister of General Education N Samsudheen handed over the State School Sports Meet championship gold trophy to Director Arun K Vijayan at the Pattom Government Model Higher Secondary School. The trophy, which began its tour yesterday, will travel through various districts before arriving at the host venue in Kozhikode on October 25.

Embracing a strict eco-friendly "Green Protocol," the meet will completely ban single-use plastics, opting instead for traditional earthen pitchers for drinking water and hand-woven coconut palm baskets for waste disposal.

The Games will be inaugurated at 4.00 PM on October 25 by Chief Minister VD Satheesan at the newly laid synthetic track at NIT Calicut in Chathamangalam. Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President and the Games’ brand ambassador, PT Usha, will light the ceremonial torch. The grand opening ceremony will feature 4,000 students marching in the parade, alongside cultural performances including Zumba and acrobatic routines staged by over 3,000 students.

Adding a spirited touch to the festivities, MPs, MLAs, and local self-government representatives will compete in an exhibition 100-meter dash and shot-put events. The Inclusive Sports Meet, set for October 26, will see nearly 2,000 para-athletes take the field.

Track and field events will be held from October 27 to 31. Competitions in other disciplines, including badminton, inclusive badminton, basketball, tug of war, inclusive cricket, karate, wushu, softball, baseball, and ball badminton, will be spread across nine separate venues. Accommodations have been arranged across 50 local schools.

To ensure seamless transit, the organisers will roll out the ‘Olympics Express’ mobile app, which will help participants navigate routes and access scheduled transport between their lodgings and competition venues.

Celebrated culinary maestro Pazhayidom Mohanan Namboothiri will helm the catering services once again. In addition to the primary dining halls, arrangements are in place to supply meals directly to the satellite venues. The valedictory ceremony will be inaugurated by Minister Ramesh Chennithala, with Olympian Anju Bobby George attending as the chief guest, according to Organising Committee Chairman and MLA MA Razak and Sports Organiser Ajith Varghese.

While preparations are ongoing on one side, the recurring ordeal of Kerala’s junior athletes competing at the national level shows no sign of abating. With the State School Games and the National Junior Athletics Championships overlapping, young athletes have been left scrambling to compete in both.

School-level athletes taking part in the 41st National Junior Athletics Championships, which kick off today at Chennai’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, face an agonising dilemma: to secure crucial academic grace marks, they must immediately dash back to Kerala to compete in the State School Games starting on Sunday. Many have travelled to Chennai entirely at their own expense, dipping into their own pockets to cover travel and accommodation.

Despite repeated appeals to reschedule the state athletics events, currently slated to begin on October 27, the department has failed to intervene. The national championships in Chennai, which feature over 2,500 athletes from across the country, run through October 27.

Reflecting the fallout of this scheduling clash, while 128 athletes from Kerala were eligible to participate in the National Junior Meet, only 62 had registered by 8:00 PM on Thursday.