SPORTING WOES
The Army has substantial control over the IGU but most ofitsgolfclubsareoutof bounds for civilians and junior golfers can’t access these facilities
Playing the IGU circuit isn’t cheap as it entails a lot of travel and forces children, who wish to make the order of merit, miss school Charges of age fraud are frequent and the IGU has virtually no checks in place Course lengths are not age specific, which intimidates children and leads to injuries due to use of bigger golf clubs. Poor scores lead to children losing interest
Tier 2 cities are not included in IGU plans. Hence, growth of the sport is restricted No effort to create awareness in schools and colleges or competitionsatstateand district levels
No involvement of scouts who can identify talent at the local level
No strategy in place to make golf courses more accessible to children has got worse since the IGU was derecognised by the sports ministry in April for non-compliance with the national sports code and failure to hold elections.
On paper, the demands were met at an emergency general meeting on June 6, but the manner in which the changes were carried out has upset several stakeholders, who will be moving court and also explore the need to form a rival association. Till order is restored, the players, the sport’s biggest stakeholders, will continue to suffer.