Vadodara: Gujarat has just one Olympic medal to its name, thanks to Baroda hockey player Govindrao Sawant, who won a silver medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics. Over the decades, Vadodara has also produced some of the highest numbers of national-level hockey players in the state, earning it the reputation of being the cradle of hockey in Gujarat.Yet, in a striking irony, hockey players in the city today do not have a ground they can call their own. Recently, the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) asked the Hockey Baroda association to vacate the ground allotted to it, leaving the players without a practice venue once again.VMC plans to build a swimming on the Akota hockey ground that the association has been asked to vacate“The civic body had given us a ground in the Akota area seven years ago. Since it was not suitable for hockey, we spent lakhs of rupees to develop it, grew grass and created basic facilities for players,” said Ashish Tekale, president of Hockey Baroda.More than 150 boys and girls train at Hockey Baroda, the city’s official hockey association, which provides free coaching to players at both junior and senior levels. “In the last four years alone, we have produced 25 national players. With Gujarat set to host the Commonwealth Games in 2030, we aim to further strengthen hockey in the city,” Tekale added.“Now we have been asked to vacate the ground. The VMC has promised to give us another piece of land, but we do not know when or where the new ground will be allotted. The game will suffer because our boys and girls will have nowhere to practise. How can we produce champions if we don’t even have a permanent hockey ground?” Tekale said.When contacted, municipal commissioner Arun Mahesh Babu said, “Officials from the hockey association met me on Thursday. Unfortunately, they have lost their space for the second time, but we will provide them with a new ground soon. We are developing a sports complex at Ankodia where they can be accommodated in the future.”
