Punjab Games: Players exhibit ‘indiscipline’

Players were seen jumping around to catch a glimpse of actor Akshay Kumar. Director Sports Pargat Singh has taken a strong note of this and asked the respective district sports officers (DSOs) to be careful in future.

After spending Rs 1 crore to provide sports kits to all 4,600 players so that they can be ready for the mega event,the sports authorities feel the players have let them down.

Former Olympian Sukhbir Grewal,who was present at the inaugural ceremony,said: “More focus was on the cultural programme and it seemed the players had no experience of a march past before. It was an important event,but the players did not do their job well.”

Teja Singh Dhaliwal,president of the Punjab Basketball Association,added: “The players lacked discipline. No team was walking in proper order. They could have waved to the actor while walking in rows. The best march past trophy is given in many tournaments,but here it was a dismal performance.”

Pargat Singh said: “We had given lots of instructions to the DSOs to tell players about the rules of march past and even a practice session was also done. But still most of them were seen flouting rules. There was practically no queue and the flag bearer was walking all alone. Players were over excited to see Akshay Kumar.”

Singh added that such shortcomings would be covered in the future tournaments and the players would be trained for a perfect march past.