Chennai: The Chennai Corporation has, at long last, accorded permission for the holding of beach Frisbee tournament at the Besant Nagar Beach this weekend.
This much-delayed decision came after intense pressure from well-known environmentalists and other prominent public personalities, apart from consistent campaigning by the Deccan Chronicle, rubbishing the excuse being peddled by some officials at the Corporation that holding the flood-lit tournament would hurt the Olive Ridley turtles; the turtles are expected to arrive for nesting on the Chennai beaches end of November whereas ‘Chennai Ultimate Frisbee’ , the tournament organisers had sought permission to hold the event during October 8-9 at the Besant Nagar beach.
“There were several representations from the associations organising the beach games and from people living near the beach asking us to grant permission for such events; besides, Deccan Chronicle too has reported about this in detail. And so we have now decided to grant permission while asking the organisers to ensure that environment norms are met”, Corporation Commissioner D. Karthikeyan, told DC.
But the tournament organisers are not too excited about Karthikeyan’s largesse. It has come too late as all the foreign and outstation teams have withdrawn due to the torturous uncertainty over the tournament fate. “We usually have at least 24 teams, 16 of them from out of Tamil Nadu. Now we are left only with 8-10 Chennai teams. Worse still, all the sponsors have left and we now have no money to conduct the evening games as the flood lights will cost money”, said Manu Karan, president, Chennai Ultimate Frisbee.
“We are running around to raise at least Rs.2.5 lakh for the flood lights but with just three days left, no sponsor is willing to commit. We are desperate”, Karan told DC.
“This permission has come a bit too late as all the international teams and most of the national teams have already pulled out because of the uncertainty”, said prominent environmentalist Nityanand Jayaraman, who lives close to the Besant Nagar beach. A meeting of the beach users that he had convened last month to discuss the beach games saw almost the entire turnout lambasting the Corporation for obstructing such healthy and inclusive sporting events. “It is unfortunate that the first time that the Corporation cites environmental concerns, it’s for all the wrong reasons”, said Jayaraman.
“World over, any beach game has been a strong societal binding event, apart from being a very healthy sport. We hope that at least from next year, the Corporation will not obstruct beach games in this manner. Actually, the Chennai event has been witnessing the maximum participation from the public and the players among the 12 tournaments that we hold every year. It fell through this year”, said N. Manickam, president, Ultimate Players’ Association of India, the national Frisbee body.
Those wishing to help raise funds and save the Besant Nagar Frisbee tournament this weekend may call tournament organiser Gautam Rajendar, 9710688766.
