PANJIM: Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant announced that the Government would provide cash awards for the Goan medal winners at the recently held Special Olympics World Summer Games in Berlin, with the gold medal winner getting Rs 5 lakhs, silver medalist Rs 3 lakhs and bronze medal winner Rs 1 lakh.
The Chief Minister hailed the extraordinary achievements and felicitated the successful Goan special athletes – 15 athletes and eight coaches – at a special felicitation function, Wednesday.
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“Our special athletes have made us all proud with their medals. They have shown great courage, determination and skill in the Special Olympic Games. The prize money will be given within two months. Moreover, we will offer them a chance to work in the government sector in the future. They deserve this recognition and support,” declared the Chief Minister.
Dr Sawant praised Social Welfare Minister, Subhash Phal Desai and Commissioner for Persons with disabilities, Guruprasad Pawaskar for having stayed with the athletes throughout the Games. They motivated them, cared for them and ensured that they felt at home in a foreign country, unlike other ministers who only attend the opening and closing ceremonies,” thundered the Chief Minister.
The medal winners who were felicitated: Venson Paes, Joel Rodrigues, Francis Parisapogu and Aman Nadaf (gold, 7-a-side football), Manfil Ferrao (gold, basketball), Veena Naik (gold, volleyball unified), Geetanjali Nagvenkar (gold, 800 mts, silver, 400 mts), Aslam Ganjanawar (silver, judo), Aayush Gadekar (silver, volleyball unified) Taniya Usgaonkar (silver and bronze, skating) and Siya Sarode (gold, deadlift and squat, silver, combine lift, bronze, bench press), Gayban Mulla (bronze, mini javelin), Gayatri Fatarpekar and Kajal Jadhav (bronze, 7-a-side football) and Asif Malani (4th place 4×400 m relay).
The eight coaches from Goa – Varsha Naik, Prakash Velip, Gautami Dessai, Samantha D’Costa, Saffira D’Costa, Kazmiro Fernandes, Sr. Monica Coelho and Prashant Tari.
Subhash Phal Dessai, Guruprasad Pawaskar hailed the athletes for the splendid performance which made the country as well as Goa very proud. They congratulated National Sports Director of Special Olympics Bharat, Victor Vaz, President of Special Olympics Goa, Luis Feranades, Vrushali Cardozo and others for their untiring efforts.
Victor stated that with 9 gold medals, 5 silver and 5 bronze, Goa had now crossed the three figure medal mark with the tally of 102 medals in the eight editions.
Thirteen athletes from Goa were part of the Indian team in unified football (male and female), futsal (male), athletics (male and female), roller skating (female), basketball (male and female), judo (male and female), powerlifting (female), unified volleyball (male and female) and handball.
Over7,000 athletes representing 190 delegations participated in the Special Olympics World Games 2023.
