CG’s national wheelchair cricket champs face equipment shortage

Raipur

:

Chhattisgarh

's Sunil Rao and

Poshan Dhruv

have made it to the national wheelchair cricket team. While they have been continuously playing in international tournaments, the duo is facing a difficult phase as their practice is being done with a hospital wheelchair, which is not suitable for sports.The Chhattisgarh team captain, Sunil Rao told TOI that the players don't have enough sports wheelchairs, which are smooth in movement and lightweight with better performance. For now, the players have been playing with wheelchairs used in hospitals.Talking about the importance of a sports wheelchair, Sunil added that the sports wheelchair has inbuilt brakes required for stable batting and bowling. These wheelchairs help in stopping the ball while fielding and the seats are also lower, unlike the hospital wheelchairs. He said the team would be able to practice and put up better performance if sports wheelchairs are made available to the players.The state team, after registering a victory in the First National T-10 held in Delhi on May 10 and May 11 are now preparing for the Late Madhavrao Scindia T-20 championship which is to be held in Gwalior from May 27.Teams from Delhi, Mumbai, Karnataka, Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh are participating in the championship. Chhattisgarh Wheelchair Cricket Association organised a camp in Bhatapara on May 23 and 24 to form 'A' and 'B' teams in the state. This was the first big camp, in which 14 players were selected. On May 25, the newly selected Chhattisgarh wheelchair cricket team was flagged off for the Gwalior wheelchair cricket T-20 National finals.