Aspirants choose football over cricket in sports quota

NEW DELHI: Cricket is played religiously in India with children from various sections pick up the sport over any other game, however, when it comes to Delhi University (DU) admissions, an overwhelming majority of applicants have decided to apply for football under the sports quota category.

According to the data provided by DU, a total of 1,557 candidates had applied for football this year.

Many candidates had chosen basketball (1,411), Athletics (1,353) and volleyball (1,143) over cricket in which only 1,087 candidates had applied.

However, the Delhi University officials have said not to read too much into the trend as due to the high level of competition in several coveted courses for a spot in cricket may have led many students applying for other sports over cricket.

According to the data compiled by the Delhi University, a total of 12, 914 applicants had applied this year under the sports quota.

The University this year had decided to increase the weightage of the marks in the trials to 60 percent.

The trials are expected to start from June 17 and the trials will be videographed to prevent malpractices, said sources at the University.

In sports involving physical combat, the maximum applications were received for Taekwondo with 461 applications.

Applications were also received for Judo (313), boxing (283) and wrestling (93).

Many budding body builders also applied under the sports category with 37 applications received for power lifting, 26 applications for weight lifting and 11 candidates applied for body building.