BICHOLIM, NOV 8
Goa Petanque Sports Association and Goa Boules Sports Association under the auspices of Petanque Federation of India and Boules Sports Federation of India will organise a 3-day 6th Junior National Petanque Championship and 3rd Senior National Boules Sports Championship from November 10 to 12 at Shatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Maidan, Bicholim, stated Bicholim MLA and president of Goa Petanque Sports Association, Rajesh Patnekar addressing a press conference in Bicholim.
The event is expected to comprise 22 teams from all over India. “As of now we have received confirmation from 18 States and 600 players. Four grounds have been assigned for petanque and three for boules besides, 50 officials are kept in-charge,” informed Patnekar.
Participating states include Goa, Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Punjab, West Bengal, Orissa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir.
Last year Goa secured the second place at National level championship in Kolhapur.
The current form of the patanque originated in 1907 in France. In this game there are metal balls called ‘boule’ and ‘jack’ made from wood. The task is to throw the ball nearer to jack than the opponent. Petanque can be either played in doubles, triples or singles. “The object of the game is to throw the balls usually of an arched back-spin in order to land closer to the small object ball (cochonnet) than those of the opponent or strike and drive the object ball towards other balls and away from the opponent’s,” explained Shrikrishna Naik, organising secretary.
The championship will be inaugurated by Chief Minister, Digambar Kamat while Sports Minister, Manohar Azgaonkar will be the chief guest. The closing ceremony is scheduled for November 12.
