TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The Goa Olympic Association (GOA) today granted provisional affiliation to the newly formed Association of Goan Basketball (AGB) as it was registered under the Societies Act earlier.
The AGB has Dinesh Sinari as its president and Atmaram Desai as its secretary. The other members are Joseph Vaz, Schubert Braganza, Yogesh Thakur, Agnelo Dias, Umed Singh Choudury, Anagha Warlikar, Clyde Lobo, Disha Naik, Sydney Furtado.
Fr Ralin de Souza and Ashley do Rosario were also members of the association having even attended the first general body meeting on August 12. However, on September 1, both were elected to the managing committee of Goa Basketball Association (GBA) as president and joint secretary respectively.
Advocate Atmaram stated that the next step would be to seek recognition from SAG, which is expected to be granted soon since there is no other basketball body in Goa which is recognised, with the GBA not even being eligible to get grants since no accounts have been submitted for several years now and with even State teams not being sent for National championships with the players being the worst sufferers.
“There have been no State championships right from sub-junior, junior, youth and senior boys and girls levels for quite many years now and this will be our topmost priority. At the moment we are busy with the preparations for Lusofonia Games, with the coaching of the men and women teams going on in full swing. There is lot of planning and work to be undertaken, for which we have a vision since it is almost like launching the sport anew. We plan to start on a clean slate with special attention to grassroots. We all need to come together so as to revive basketball which at one time was very popular in Goa. Fortunately, it is the Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs (DSYA) and the Goa University that kept basketball alive with regular inter-school and inter-college tournaments and participation at their respective all-India competitions,” explained Atmaram, who as a youngster was a star player having represented Goa at several Nationals.
