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Power outages hurting sports at SSB complex Back To Main

The News

Syed Intikhab Ali and Waqar Hamza
 

KARACHI: More than three hundred sportspersons are being affected by the KESC’s load shedding schedule in Nazimabad No 2 as it prevents them from playing and practising at Sindh Sports Board Complex (SSB), ‘The News’ has learnt.

The sportspeople being hurt include national level ranking and upcoming junior players of various disciplines.

The KESC authorities switch off the electricity for the area from 5pm to 7pm, which is the main playing time, players said. SSB does not have a generator.

The SSB is one of the main non-commercial complexes in the metropolitan.

Players of not only the district central but also of other parts of the city come here because massive development work has been carried out at the complex and it now boasts of quite a few advanced facilities for various disciplines.

There are facilities for table tennis, badminton, martial arts, Shoto kon, Kio Kishon, body building, weight lifting. But now sportspersons are dejected because there is no power supply during the very hours of their practice.

Owing to this the number of players has started decreasing because coming to the complex now seems to them a waste of time.

The government’s institutions are devastating sports by adopting such attitude, said a group of gymnasts.

“It is the best hall in the Karachi due o its ventilation where even in the absence of AC, players can easily play but due to power supply problem, all our enthusiasm evaporates,” said Talha Usman, a junior table tennis player.

Islamia Table Tennis Club is the best club in Karachi. It has produced a number of national players. The players of this club used to come here for practice but no longer because of the load shedding, said Talha.

He said that some good players “used to practice here and play with us but now they don’t come, which deprives us, the junior players, of opportunity to play with experienced players and this is a loss of Karachi.”

A disgruntled group of junior players asked why national ranking players of table tennis, gymnastic and other sports would come here if there is no electricity.

Parents of a few youngsters present at the complex said their children come here through a lot of traffic mess and after spending quite a lot of money so that they may play with senior and experienced players, but it is now impossible.

“There are good facilitate but all their hopes are shattered when they have to stop playing as the time clashes with load shedding schedule,” said a mother.

Director SSB Musheer Rabbani told ‘The News’ also said that youngsters were suffering because of the load shedding. “We have no objection to the load shedding as there is no doubt there is shortage of power in our country but we want its time to be changed,” said. “We have requested KESC that timing of load shedding in this particular area should be changed in the interest of sports.”

Summer vacation camps are scheduled to be held at the complex, but all plans might be thwarted by the load shedding.

A spokesperson of KESC said the consumers have to lodge an application with their local area office and cite the reasons why the power cut schedule should be changed. The corporation will consider resolving the issue, he said.

He further said that any change in power cut schedule is subject to different considerations including the routine of the city.

Source:                 http://www.thenews.com.pk/