With the Beijing Olympics behind us, the Common- wealth Games ahead of us and cricket with us all year round, there is now a newfound demand for opportunities in sportscasting. Sportscasting, which refers to a variety of inter-related careers, including sports commentary, sports reporting and sports presentation, can be a very challenging career.

Sports presentation
This is perhaps the most recognised and approachable avenue of the three. A sports presenter hosts regular shows on television and talks about various aspects related to the sport. Says Padamjeet Sehrawat, runner-up of the ESPN dream job hunt and anchor of the show Paddying Up on Zee Sports, "Sports presentation is a thrilling job. This is something that you can turn into a profession, as opposed to sports commentary, which can, at best, can only be a temporary career in a country like India."

Sports commentary
In complete agreement with Sehrawat is renowned football commentator and expert Novy Kapadia. He says, "In India, only if you are associated with crick- et can you make it big as a sports commentator Otherwise, the scenario is very dismal."

Kapadia has his reasons to make such a statement. More often than not, sports channels only broadcast cricket on a regular basis and some specific sporting event, if it is big in terms of viewership. In which case, says Sehrawat, there are feeds and commentary from international professionals. In such a situation, there is barely space for Indian commentators to get a word in edgeways.

Therefore, it is better to make your name as a freelancer to get more work, advises Kapadia.

Skills required
There's a basket of skills required if one wants to be a successful sportscaster. "You need to be blessed with a good voice and have the ability to communicate well.

Interestingly, most of these budding sports aspirants prefer to join high earning games like cricket, tennis, hockey and shooting, finds the latest survey from the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

The survey brought out by ASSOCHAM clearly indicates that "Urban Sports Programmes" promoted by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports are yet to prove their worth, as they have not been launched with the necessary vigour The other factor for such a dismal situation is the fact that corporates have only extended lukewarm support and measly scholarships for national games like Hockey, Football, Athletics, Boxing and Weightlifting. As a result, these games have not gained much recognition in India. The scheme, known as the Sports Authority of India (SAI) - National Sports Talent Contest (NSTC) scheme, has virtually proved to be a non-starter for the youth.

Urban youth from states like Karnataka, Andhra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Goa have also not shown their eagerness to tap sports for career opportunities.

While you mention that you are in your college team, you do not mention which sport you play To be able to .

get into a higher-level sports team, you need to qualify for zonal and state level matches, and then those at national level.

Today there are several , academies and institutes that select and train talent for practically every sport.

Private academies such as the Britannia Amritraj Ten nis Academy which , launched Leander Paes, and the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai, have been promoting and training sports persons in different sports. The Sports Authority of India, and some state sports associations have also instituted special academies, which help nurture talent.

However, at the age of 20 it may be difficult for you to start training, if you have not already qualified for any competitive level.

I think that excessive sports in schools or even in colleges can spoil a child's life. Every child is not able to make a career in sports. So, in my view, indulging in sports at the cost of studies is not right. I think that increasing participation in sports at schools and colleges can lead to bad academic perfbrmance. Gyan Prakash Gupta, Teacher Delhi

Says Syed Shaheen, director (sports) at Zakir Husain college, ``As coaches, we go for various tournaments where you do come across good players at the school level.'' While Shaheen denies there's any official list of players drawn up and invites for admission sent to them, DU sources claim the headhunting happens on a more informal level. Said a senior teacher associated with the sports selection committee at a college, ``The college coaches get in touch either directly with the best players or with the school coach, who then encourages them to join a particular college.''

Shaheen admits several of his college's current players had been known by the sports committee before trials because of their performance in local tour naments. ``The Jatin Bedi tournament, organised at St Stephen's College for public schools in the city, is well known to be frequented by college coaches as it throws up new talent every year,'' says a senior teacher.

DU will now spend the amount on a stadium for rugby, a multi-purpose training hall for netball and boxing, in door hall as training venue for women wrestlers, outdoor track and field as training venue for athletes, seven rugby training fields and necessary basic infrastructure for these venues.

J S Naruka, Delhi University sports director, said that while the central competition venue will be the DU sports complex, the venues for training would be located at 11 different colleges.

Prominent among them are Hindu College, St Stephen's College and Hansraj College. Renovation will commence from April 15 and would be completed by November 2009.

"It would be a good thing for the university students to be provided with high class sporting facilities," said Naruka. According to him, outsiders will also not be barred from using the facilities. "We are open-minded about outsiders but a regulatory body will be formed in this regard," he said.

Other than DU, the Cabinet Committee has also allotted Rs 34 crore to Jamia Millia Islamia and Rs 1.74 crore to Delhi Public School, R K Puram.

The government in association with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) plans to open 50 vocational schools to help create better employment opportunity.

Education minister Arvinder Singh Lovely recently informed that, "the state government is planning 50 vocational schools and 11 handicapped-friendly schools in the Capital. Students would be imparted vocational education in these schools to equip them with skills, which would enable them to have better employment opportunities."

Lovely honored 69 meritorious teachers for their contribution in school education. Officials of the Education Department, teachers and a large number of students attended the function.

The minister further informed that the government is planning to provide computer education in every school.

A sports school will also be opened to promote sporting activities in view of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

The laurels that go to a college can be credited not only to excellent academic results but also to prizes and awards won by its different 'Societies'. The talent might come in handy for the adroit. Though, not everyone gets through the prestigious colleges, trying in other institutes too can take one through where percentages cannot!

The enabling principles are ability, adeptness in the concerned field and at least a 'bunch of certificates'. This implies that national, zonal and state level players stand a greater chance. The quotas cover basketball, volleyball, shooting, badminton, athletics, football, swimming, chess, squash, lawn tennis, yoga, golf, music, debating, theatre et al.

While St. Stephen's, Ramjas and Kirori Mal are known for their exceptional talent in theatre, trials may turn out to be stressful because of stiff competition.

From last yeal: the details of sports and ECA have to be filled in the ICR forms itself while prior to that, contenders had to run from one college to another for a separate form.

At last, 'experts' in their field can forget about the percentage game, and instead, 'play ball' and get ahead!

Students willing to pursue physical education at the graduation level have now reason to smile as Delhi University is all set to introduce a new course in the threeyear BA programme.

The proposed optional course, passed by the university standing committee, will have three papers which will be studied for three consecutive years. The first paper is introduction to physical education, the second foundation of physical education and third professional integration of physical education. Miranda House is among the few colleges which has proposed to start the course this year.

``Physical education is an extremely important subject and kids need to know about it in depth that has been ignored so far. We need to incorporate it into academics at the earliest to encourage students to look at it as a separate discipline,'' said Pratibha Jolly, principal, Miranda House. The proposal has been passed by the Academic Council (AC) last week, however, it is yet to be okayed by the executive council (EC).

She added, ``If EC okays the proposal, we will introduce the course this year itself as we have two highly-trained physical educators.''

The Indian contingent for the seventh International Abilympics, to be held in Japan in November, will be selected during this three-day competitive event. The gold medallist at the Delhi games will compete in Japan against 33 countries.