"No Respect": Athlete Rues JLN Stadium's Condition After Diljit Concert

For sports fans in India, the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi is a hallowed venue. In the past it has hosted the 2010 Commonwealth Games, footballer Bhaichung Bhutia's farewell match against Bayern Munich, the SAFF Championships as well as many other events. Recently, however, it hosted a music concert of Punjabi singer Diljit Dosanjh on Saturday and Sunday as part of his Dil-Luminati Tour. The concert, which was a well-attended event, is however generating negative news after what it allegedly did to the JLN Stadium.  

Track and field athlete Beant Singh shared his disappointment on social media, posting images and video of the venue in disarray after the concert. Held over the weekend, the concert drew nearly 35,000 fans each night but left the stadium, typically reserved for sports, in a state of disarray.

In the video posted by Singh, the stadium's track and field area were littered with garbage, alcohol containers, and damaged athletic equipment. "This is where athletes train, but here people had alcohol and partied," Beant Singh shared on Instagram.

"For this, the stadium was closed off until yesterday. The athletics equipment has been broken and thrown to the side. Such is the respect of the athletes. And then in every four years they will talk about Olympics but will not support at the grassroot level.”

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A post shared by Beant Singh (@beant.bhinder_800m)

Punjab FC, the Indian Super League (ISL) team that also uses Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium as its home ground, is now dealing with the concert's fallout as it prepares to face Chennaiyin FC on Thursday night.

With Punjab FC currently in fourth place on the ISL points table, the team was counting on a pristine pitch to give them an edge. Instead, players and staff were met with debris and stadium personnel scrambling to restore the field in time.

With IANS inputs