Pune: A minor fire broke out in the Weightlifting Hall of the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex at Balewadi forcing evacuation of over 200 table tennis players and officials during the ongoing Maharashtra State Table Tennis championship, here on Monday.
Though the fire, which started from one of the air-conditioning duct was brought under control without much damage to the property and even before fire fighters arrived on the scene, the sorry state of sports complex raises many questions as to whether upkeep is being looked at.
Scorers sitting on the left side of the hall that housed 16 TT tables noticed sparks falling from top close to where they were sitting and suddenly the AC duct above got enveloped in flames.
Thankfully, before panic could set in the officials ordered evacuation of the hall and players, parents and others in the hall rushed out.
“Thankfully fire was brought under control immediately. The gas pipe in the duct blew up which caused the fire to spread, but volunteers swung into action and used the available extinguishers to bring the fire under control,” Shrikant Anturkar of Pune District Table Tennis Association, told Sakal Times.
Once the hall was emptied and fire was doused the matches resumed pushing the hectic schedule of the 50th Inter-District and 81st Maharashtra State Table Tennis Championship by about 45 minutes.
Sixteen tables in the weightlifting hall had made the area cramped and there was hardly any space to move around the hall freely after the incident.
It is noteworthy that air-conditioning was not under use and still sparks began from the duct.
Squeezed out schedule
The scheduled championship which otherwise should be spread over seven days to give each entrant breathing time between matches has been crunched into four days to allow some of the key players to travel to Bhavnagar—host of the West Zone National Ranking tournament.
“We tried our best to convince the Table Tennis Federation of India to give us more days to conduct this event, but we were forced to accommodate everything within four days,” a PDTTA official said.
Besides the 16 tables in the weightlifting hall, the organisers have set up eight tables in the catering hall of the complex to make it possible to conduct 24 matches at any given time.
Sakal Times tried its best to seek response from the Officer in-charge of the Balewadi Sports Complex, but no response came in till the time to go for press.