PANJIM: Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has agreed to hold the 36th National Games in Goa in October 2020. The association has also accepted to waive off Rs 10 crore fine imposed for repeatedly postponing the Games, informed Deputy Chief Minister and Sports Minister Manohar Babu Ajgaonkar.
The decision was taken at a meeting attended by IOA top brass and a delegation from Goa, including Ajgaonkar, Sports Secretary J Ashok Kumar, Sports Authority of Goa Executive Director VM Prabhudesai, Kriahnamurthy and Engineer Anil Ringne.
“IOA has informed us that the National Games will be held in Goa from October 20 to November 4. We are happy over this development. Now, we will get enough time to issue tenders and get the remaining works done,” said Ajgaokar.
“The IOA has also agreed to waive off Rs 10 crore fine which was imposed for repeatedly postponing the National Games”, he added.
Non-completion of the requisite infrastructure in Goa has been one of the reasons behind the multiple delays in hosting the Games, the last edition of which was held in Jharkhand in 2011.
However, Engineer Ringne on Saturday assured that the infrastructure work will be completed well in time.
Goa had repeatedly reneged on its agreement to host the games since 2015. The games were to be held in November this year but Goa government had sought extension of time till May 2020 yet again.
Goa was earlier supposed to host the 36th edition of the National Games in November last year. However, the State later set aside dates for the event from March 30 to April 14 this year, but then expressed its inability to host the Games during that period owing to the general elections.
Meanwhile, the IOA had earlier announced allotting the next edition of the Games to Chhattisgarh (2020), Uttarakhand (2021) and Meghalaya (2022).
