JOVITO LOPES
jovit@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The double suspense over the forthcoming 37th National Games to be held in Goa continues. There is no certainty about the exact dates in October-November and worse, there is no guarantee that Goa could secure more than the five bronze medals obtained in the last Games held in Gujarat wherein the State finished a dismal 30th.
The Games are scheduled for October-November this year, but the exact 2-weeks needed for organising the events are yet to be finalised in consultation with the IOA and Central Government. We have had three delays in 2018, 2019 and 2022. The infrastructure is ready and repairs and maintenance work only needs to be undertaken, claims the Government.
The dates are drawing near and so the hurry in getting the venues in shape. The mascot, anthem, logo are yet to be launched. Most importantly, the National Games Organising Committee, which is the core body for all logistics, is yet to be set up under the presidentship of the Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant and posts allotted to various Government Departments.
Efforts were made to get the details of the progress, but the Joint CEO, Dr Geeta S Nagvenkar, who is the SAG’s Executive Director was totally occupied with her daily routine work, despite a long wait at her office at Bambolim. Even a call went unanswered. The Nodal Officers who were appointed confirmed that nothing has happened after their grandiose appointment.
The delay in finalising the dates, and setting up of the main committee, are matters of serious concern. If one goes by the past, one recalles that one fine day in August 2021, the then Sports Minister Manohar Asgaonkar stated that the State was ready to host the Games and in April 2022, the present Sports Minister Govind Gaude publicly announced that Goa was not even close to hosting the Games. And, the Games were, at the last moment, embarrassingly shifted to Gujarat.
On the medal front, no State Association has come on record about the medal prospects. At least one of them was candid that just organising 90-days camps is no guarantee that it would translate into medals. And, recently, the picture in the State’s official game – football – does not inspire one at all, what with Goa finishing third in the group in the 27th National Women’s Football Championship held in our own backyard at Fatorda and worse, Goa faring very poorly in men’s football, finishing last in the 6-State teams group with five defeats and no points.
The general feeling is that if the Government depends on the 90-days camps to earn medals, it only displays its total bankruptcy of knowledge required to secure medals.
The Government has been planning to host the Games since 2018. There was enough time to galvanise the sportspersons to raise their performance in a systematic and scientific manner. It is exactly the lack of proper planning from the part of the Department as well as the lack of knowledge on the part of the Government that eventually will lead to one pointing an accusing finger at the authorities if Goa fails to even get a single gold.
It is the sad state of sports development in Goa, that calls for revamping and overhauling the entire planning and execution process by the Sports Authority of Goa (SAG), which has proved to be an institution mostly happy in releasing funds and creating infrastructure, thus ignoring the main mandate of improving the standards of various sports and games in the State. Just imagine, there are no long term programmes in coaching, wherein the Associations ought to have been graded based solely on their sheer performance annually under the Olympic and non-Olympic sports disciplines.
At this rate, the SAG has given an impression that it has been working on a piece meal basis, often giving the idea that it is trimming the branches of a tree only before the events, instead of making the trunk bigger and better and the roots firm and stronger. It has been taking pride at the cosmetic changes, like asking someone to go to saloon for a hair dye and a face lift which is purely temporary in nature.
To raise the standards, one needs to have a long term vision, which simply does not exist. And therefore, the programme for grooming the young, budding talent in a very systematic and scientific manner is simply missing. Treating sports as a compulsory subject at school level, bringing parents on board would certainly give a better active lifestyle, development, social inclusiveness and above all a sense of belonging and national pride. And, brought into the main educational system, it would create opportunities for employment.
Sports should not be looked as if winning just one medal for the child is the ultimate end. It should be part of developing healthy individuals with a national spirit and an ambition for life. For that, the need for a scientific lab for undertaking analysis, diagnosing the potential of each individual and then coming to the conclusion as to which sport are the body muscles best suited.
It is the Body Mass Index (BMI) that will give a sense of direction as one needs to analyse one’s muscles with regards to agility, flexibility, endurance, explosive strength and the combination of endurance and explosive strength. Such a lab must be kept at the disposal of all State Associations when selecting the State teams and also in drawing up long term plans for coaching of players. It calls for professionals like physios, dieticians, sports psychologists, doctors and several others. In short, the lab will provide a very systematic and scientific analysis of human body and mind.
Every sportsperson has some sort of difficulty as they come from different backgrounds and this can be tackled systematically by a psychologist. Remember that the higher the comfort level of a sportsperson the higher shall be the performance. A good nutritive diet will always keep the sportsperson in excellent shape combined with proper fitness and exercise so as to give higher performance. This role can only be played by a dietician. So, the need for proper manpower.
The question uppermost in the minds of Goans is: Can Goa, as hosts, raise its performance to a higher level, climbing up at least some rungs up the ladder? Remember there is home advantage. Can we count among the top ten? It is pretty difficult. Goans are expecting a much better performance on the field as compared to the last Games. Remember that the State agreement with the IOA was signed in 2008 and originally the Games were to be held in 2011.
