Indian Railways have been the front runner in building up traditions since its existence. And, these traditions are always linked to the legacies of the past. Railways have not only monopolized in meeting the ever-increasing transportation demand in the country, but also captured the limelight in many national and international events covering more than one fields. No one can deny the unique contribution made by the Indian Railways to promote sports and games scenario in the country while embracing talented and upcoming sportspersons to its fold and nurturing them with care and passion to give their best and fetch laurels to the organization and country as well.


East Coast Railway Sports Association (ECORSA) – a registered multi disciplinary sports and games association in East Coast Railway and affiliated to Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) started its formal functioning from September 2003 onwards in the Zonal Headquarter at Bhubaneswar. Since then the divisional units viz. Waltair, Khurda Road & Sambalpur and Workshop unit at Mancheswar have come under its fold. Subsequent to its formation, the Association has been actively involved in promotion of various sports and games activities amongst railwaymen all over its geographical jurisdiction extending over three states i.e. Orissa, Andhra Pradesh (South) & Chhatisgarh (West).


Objectives:
1. To develop sports and games infrastructure facilities both at the headquarter and unit levels.
2. To recruit outstanding sports persons in selected disciplines through talent scouting as well as open advertisement.
3. Organisation of inter unit and inter-railway sports and games events.


Structure:
ECoRSA has an executive body at the zonal level that is nominated by the General Manager, who is the chief patron in the association. The present set up in the railway comprises of the following:

Chief Patron : Sri A.K.Goyal, GM
Hony. President : Sri D.K.Samantray,FA & CAO(Con)
Hony. Vice President : Sri G.C.Roy, CPTM
General Secretary : Sri A.K.Patra,Secretary to GM
Jt. Gen. Secretary : Sri P.K.Mahapatra,Sr.ADGM
Asst. Secretary : Sri L.K.Ptra,Sr SFA
Asst. Sports Officer : Sri G.Balamurali
Hony Treasurer : Sri G.C.Sahoo, AFA
Infrastrucure Incharge : Sri B.B.Maharana, AEN
Press Incharge : Sri N. Dash,PRO


Events Round up…


Year- 2003

• ECoRSA was formally inaugurated on 2nd December 2003 at Rail Vihar, Bhubaneswar with felicitation to Sri Dilip Tirky, Captain of Indian Hockey Team in a colourful function.
• The first ever selection trial against open advertisement conducted on 23rd & 24th March, 2003 at Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar to recruit outstanding sportspersons against (Gr-‘C’ -11 & Gr-‘D’ – 4) and Talent Scouting (Gr-‘C’ – 3 & Gr-‘d’ – 2).
• Foundation stone for ECORSA Indoor Sports Complex was laid on 13.02.2004 by Smt. V. Viswanathan, Financial Commissioner in presence of Sri S. R. Chowdhuri, General Manager.

Year – 2004

• 1st Annual General Body Meeting was held at Bhubaneswar on 5th February,2004.
• The Wooden Indoor Badminton hall with one of the best wooden court in the city of Bhubaneswar was inaugurated on 17th Nov’04 by Sri S. R. Choudhuri, General Manager.
• The ECoRSA Health Club-with one of the best Multi-Gym with latest equipments was inaugurated by Smt. Malavika Chaudhuri, President- ECoRWWO on 17th Nov’04.
• Badminton Coaching Camp was conducted from 25.12.04 to 10.01.05 in the Indoor Badminton Hall at Rail Vihar, Bhubaneswar.
• 1st Inter Division Cricket Championship was held at Visakhapatnam from 27th to 29th Dec’04.

Year – 2005

• 2nd Annual General Body Meeting was held at Bhubaneswar on 3rd March,2005.
• 1st Inter Departmental Flood Light Tennis Ball Cricket Tournament was organized at Rail Vihar from 02.05.05 to 05.05.05.
• The Bhoomi Puja of ECoRSA stadium held on 22.06.2005 at Mancheswar. Sri S. R. Chaudhuri, GM/ECoR was Chief Guest on this occasion. Sri Suresh Ch. Patnaik, Secretary Sports and Youth Services Govt. of Orissa and Smt. Geeta Thopal, AM/Budget were Guests of Honour. Sri V. Somasundaram, Chief Administrative Officer/ECoR presided over the function.
• 71st All India Railway Athletic Championship – 2005 was organised from 23rd to 25th Oct’05 at Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar in a grand way. Sri Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister, Orissa inaugurated the meet and Sri Rameswar Thakur, Governor, Orissa was present in the closing ceremony as Chief Guest to give away the Championship trophy.

Year – 2006:

• 2nd Inter Division Volleyball Championship was organized at Khurda Road from 17.02.06 to 18.02.06.
• 2nd Inter Division Cricket Championship was held at Visakhapatnam from 21.02.06 to 24.02.06.
• 2nd Inter Division Badminton Championship was organized from 21.02.06 to 24.02.06 at Visakhapatnam.
• 2nd Inter Division Football Championship was held from 11.03.06 to 12.03.06 at Khurda.
• 3rd Annual General Body Meeting was held at Bhubaneswar 28th May,2006.
• All India Railway Volleyball Championship (Men and Women) was organized by ECoRSA at Rail Vihar,Bhubaneswar from 11.11.2006 to 17.11.2006.In the men’s category, East Coast Railway won the championship event for the first time and S.C. Railway became the runners up . In the Womens’ category, Central Railway, Mumbai secured Gold and Southern Railway secured Silver. Sri Debasis Nayak, Sports Minister of Orissa was Chief Guest on the inaugural day.Sri Naveen Patnaik, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Orissa

Sports Quota for Recruitment..

Allotted Disciplines:
The disciplines are selected from the list of recognized sports and games of Railway Sports Promotion Board mentioned below:

Eligibility Criteria for Group – ‘C’ Recruitment:

Educational Qualification:
Minimum – SSC/Matriculation in Scale Rs.3,050 - 4,590/-(RSRP) / Rs. 3,200 - 4,900/-(RSRP).
Age Limit: Minimum 18 years and maximum 25 years as on the notified date.
Minimum Norms for recruitment of Sports persons in Group “C”:
The applicant sportsperson should have represented in any of the above mentioned games.

i) Represented the country in the International Championship i.e. Olympic Games, World Cup, World Championships, Asian Games & Commonwealth Games
OR
ii) Represented State or equivalent Unit, in Junior/Senior National Championship and obtained at least 3rd Position
OR
iii) Represented a University, in All India Inter-University Championship, organized under the aegis of Association of Indian Universities and obtained at 2nd Position
OR
iv) Represented State or equivalent Unit in the Federation Cup Championship and obtained 1st Position.

N.B. Cricket :
(a) In Cricket (Men) Junior Category, representation of a State of equivalent Unit, at least in the semi-finals Cooch Behar (U-19) Elite Group Championship will be considered for recruitment in Group ‘‘C’’
OR
(b) Semi Finals of the All India Knock-out stage of Vinoo Mankad (U-19) Championship shall also be considered for recruitment in Group ‘C’.
OR
(c) Senior Category representation of a State or equivalent Unit, at least in the Semi-finals of Ranji Trophy Elite Group Championship or semifinals of Inter State All India Limited Overs Tournament (popularly known as One Day Ranji Trophy Championship), shall also be considered for recruitment in Group-C.
OR
(d) Junior Category representation of a State or equivalent Unit, at least in the semi-finals of Cooch Behar (U-19) and Vinoo Mankad (U-19) Championships, shall also be considered for recruitment in Group-C.

Shuttle Badminton :
(a) For recruitment in Group ‘‘C’’ in Shuttle Badminton, sportsperson with current All Indian Ranking upto 16 in Seniors and upto 08 in Juniors will also eligible. Only the current Annual Ranking will be considered for this purpose.

Eligibility Criteria for Group – ‘D’ Recruitment:
Educational Qualification : Minimum Class 8th passed (In scale Rs.2,550 - 3,200/-(RSRP)
Age Limit: Minimum 18 years and maximum 25 years as on 01.01.2007.
Minimum Norms for recruitment of Sports persons in Group “D”

i) Represented State or equivalent Unit in Junior/Senior National Championship.
OR
ii) Represented a University in All India Inter-University Championship, organized under the aegis of Association of Indian University and obtained at least 3rd Position.
OR
iii) Represented District or equivalent Unit, in Junior/Senior State Championship and obtained at least 3rd Position.

NB : Cricket :

(a) In Cricket (Men) representation of a state or equivalent Unit in Ranji Trophy Elite or Plate Group Championship or Inter State All India Limited Overs Tournament (Popularly known as One Day Ranji Trophy Championship) Shall also considered for recruitment in Gr. “D”
(b) Representation of a state or equivalent Unit in Cooch Behar (U-19) and Vinoo Mankad (U-19) Championship shall also be considered for recruitment in Gr. “D”.

Other criteria :
i. Applicant should be citizen of India.
ii. Only active sports persons who have participated in the above listed championships in the preceding two years are eligible to apply for appointment against sports quota. The achievements listed as ‘‘Eligibility Criteria’’ should be in the immediate preceding two years i.e. 2005-06 & 2004-05 shall only be considered. Sports achievements on or after 01.04.hall only be considered for appointment, in the extent case. For this purpose, concluding day of championship shall be taken into account.

The recruitment is conducted through a selection Trial and an interview test.

Snapshots