Kalinga floodlights fail, goalkeepers grope in dark
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The floodlights provided at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar are definitely not appropriate for a national tournament of Santosh Trophy’s stature.
They would be more apt for ‘gully’ cricket.
Four temporary wooden structures on either side are erected to radiate light. Each construction holds 20 average-sized halogen bulbs.
However, the biggest problem in this setup is the height — around 30 feet from the ground — at which the tubes are fixed.
It causes a lot of discomfort as the aerial balls are lost behind the glowing lights during midfield play.
The most affected parties are the goalkeepers. During corners, it has become a common sight to see the custodians holding their palms near their foreheads to negate the piercing light.
No votes for Odisha’s ‘mike’ Manohar Similar to the senior division league in Chennai, an unmistakable shrill voice yells out on the mike during half-time and after the completion of every game.
The announcements, which are supposedly in English and Odiya, are intended to update match status to a negligible number of fans.
However, the announcements aren’t bang on. For example, during the Railways-Mizoram quarterfinal league match, the anchor behind the mike announced: “In the 44th minute, PC ‘Rizzuu’ restored the lead for Railways with just one-and-a-half minutes left for the break!”
In the same breath, he went on to praise Riju’s solo goal-scoring effort. A glaring blunder was waiting to be committed even as he added: “It was a marvellous ‘right-footed’ finish.” However, Riju had scored the goal off his left foot!
No hi, no Wi-Fi
Journalists never tire of crying foul over the step-motherly treatment meted out to sports other than cricket in India.
But let’s get it straight for once — there is an immense gulf between the way cricket and other sports are run in this country.
The associations that administer the other sports don’t care an iota when it comes to hospitality. They should take a leaf out of the cricket administrators.
For starters, the Santosh Trophy does not have a designated press box at the Kalinga Stadium.
The media are made to sit near the touchline under the scorching Bhubaneswar heat. In addition, there is not a single scoreboard that’s kept around the entire stadium.
The request of journalists for Wi-Fi connection fell on deaf ears. Not surprising.
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