if tipplers can have a field day why cant sports this is the question sports training centres are asking the state government as they stare at an uncertain future following the lockdownfearful and anxious the training centres which cater to a clientele of over a million in the city feel it is high time the government allowed them to function again the coronavirus pandemic which forced them to shut shop on march 15 has already spelt the doom for some of them while a few others are struggling to make ends meetsalaries land and property rentals maintenance emis on the hefty investment made on infrastructure have burned a deep hole in the centres pockets with a major share of their revenue coming during the summer vacation these centres are left with nothing to look forward to in the latter part of the yearkarnataka has around 1500 sports training centres with bengaluru alone accounting for around 650700 contrary to the popular notion that we back recreational sports the centres are primarily used to promote health fitness and train elite athletes it is difficult to understand how the government can ignore our claims sources told toithe centres have only echoed what elite athletes around the country have demanded in the past few days a chance to restart training but their fears have doubled with reports doing the rounds that resumption of their activities may be put off until august when schools and colleges are likely to reopen what has baffled them further was the sale of liquor that began on monday with little control over the milling crowdswe could understand the pressure the government was under in the initial days but images of long queues for liquor and total disregard for social distancing norms at these outlets in the last few days made us wonder why our appeals are being ignored we cater to people between 10 to 3540 years of age we are promoting a healthy practice with the promise that all health norms will be followed why arent we allowed to open our centresowners of these centres numbering around 160 plan to make a representation to the government soonexplaining the loss suffered in the last two months the sources said training centres specialise in one or multiple sports the most popular among them being badminton swimming football cricket tennis squash shooting golf and cue sports the money earned from our clients varies from rs 5000 to around rs 20000 per day depending on the facilities that they use this is our only source of income and that has been wiped out since marchthe centres monthly income is around rs 25 crore the sources said adding at 18 percent we pay around rs 45 crore as gst to the government with a minimum of 2025 people working in each centre from security guards to coaches ours is an industry which employs around 3000035000 people with salaries ranging from rs 8000rs 40000 their livelihood has been badly hitthe centres said they have