LUCKNOW, July 3 -- Inadequate infrastructure, improper coaching, and bad planning etc, seem to be the reasons why budding Uttar Pradesh sports persons have lost faith in the state government-run sports colleges i.e. Guru Gobind Singh Sports College in Lucknow, Vir Bahadur Singh Sports College in Gorakhpur and Major Dhyan Chand Sports College in Saifai. One would be surprised to know that in the new academic season, at least 275 seats are vacant in these sports colleges against a total strength of 1,195. This, even after two rounds of trials as well as medical tests. This 'crisis' has forced the college management to adopt new methods to fill the seats before the session starts on July 10. "It's all because of the bad planning of the authorities concerned and they don't have a vision for the betterment of these sports colleges, which have a great history of producing top stars for the country in the past," said former India volleyball captain and Arjuna awardee, Ranveer Singh on Wednesday. "Why is there a change in admission policy every time? There has to be a consistency in the system and moreover, these sports colleges need to have permanent principals as in my knowledge there is no permanent principal since the inception of Guru Gobind Singh Sports College in 1975," said Singh, who happens to be one of the founders of the sports college. He also said that now these sports colleges have become 'preparatory centres' for those who are looking for jobs in military, police etc, as athletes have little faith in becoming big sportspersons of the future or win medals for India at the Olympics. "I have seen the world during my playing days and I never found such an unplanned system like we have for our sports colleges in Uttar Pradesh. The purpose of these sports colleges was to produce talent for the state as well as for the country. In the past, these colleges produced several top athletes for the country, but I haven't heard of any recent sportsperson coming out of these colleges," said Singh, who was one of the top most sportspersons of Uttar Pradesh in his time. Singh, however, suggested that the state government should first review its planning to start a few more sports colleges in the future. "Even before the start of new sports colleges in the state, the government should review its planning as it's going to be waste at a time when already existing colleges have failed to produce talent," he said, adding, "The government should get talent from the rural areas of the state and bring them to sports college for further training." A big chunk of the annual budget to the sports department goes to the sports colleges, and the government spends almost Rs 1.5 lakh per year on a student of these colleges, but rarely do these athletes achieve anything big. "Nowadays, the real athletes are looking for private academies and sports colleges across India as they know the poor coaching standard and infrastructure at the state government-run sports colleges. Unless we have quality coaching, infrastructure and planning, we aren't going to produce talents from sports colleges," said former junior India cricketer Bhupinder Singh on Wednesday. Singh, who also happens to be the first batch of cricketers at the Lucknow's sports college in 1976, said that the maintenance as well as food are bad at the sports college. "Now, one won't like to visit the sports college dormitories as they are in a pathetic condition. Even coaches don't know the reality of the cricketing world as most of our coaches are getting meager Rs 25,000 and working on ad hoc basis,' he added. Meanwhile, acting secretary of the UP Sports College Society, and principal of the Guru Gobind Singh Sports College, Animesh Saxena said that the medical tests of some students will be redone and consider the waiting list students to fulfill the vacancies in all three sports colleges....