TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: To make the 3rd Lusofonia Games, a moment to remember, Goa government has planned to have a distinct Goan flavour to the 12-day sports extravaganza scheduled from January 18 to 29, by kicking off the celebrations will the grand launch of official song and mascot on December 11, in the capital city Panjim.
The dazzling ceremony along the river Mandovi will be attended by State officials, sportspersons, the designated Chef-de-Missions of the participating countries, ACOLOP members. Goa’s leading sportspersons will also be felicitated.
Goa’s quintessential nightingales, the evergreen Lorna and Fadista Sonia Shirsat, will lend their melodious voices to the official song, penned by poet and writer St Andrade MLA Vishnu Wagh, which is multilingual, scripted in Konkani, Portuguese, Marathi, Hindi and English. The song will be composed by Goan musician Mukesh Ghatwal.
Based on the ethos of rich Indian cultural diversity and the five elements of nature viz Fire, Water, Earth, Air and Ether (Agni-Jal-Vayo-Prithvi-Aakash), the theme conceptualised by a team of creative intellectuals which include Tomazinho Cardozo, Ajay Vaiydya, Shridhar Bambolkar, Rose Ferns, Rajeev Shinde, Satish Gawas and led by celebrated theatre director Bansi Kaul, the glittering evening will have a mesmerising performances of various art forms, symbolic of the five elements of the cosmos.
The launch, the opening and closing ceremonies will cost the govt exchequer Rs 20 crore.
In the Portuguese commonwealth games over 15,000 athletes from 12 nations will be competing in nine different sports disciples such as athletics, basketball, beach volleyball, football, judo, table tennis, taekwondo, and wushu.
Participating countries are Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea- Bissau, Macau (China), Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Principe, Sri Lanka and the host Goa (India).
