PANJIM: Fomer Executive Director of Sports Authority of India (SAI) and former Deputy Director General of Commonwealth Games 2010, Roque Dias, of Santa Cruz, passed away following an attack of stroke here on Sunday. He was 63. The funeral is likely to be held on Tuesday at Santa Cruz church.
Roque began his career as Goa’s badminton player in Nationals from 1975 to 1982. After graduating from the NIS, Patiala, as badminton coach, and following a career in coaching, he was selected by SAI where he rose to become the Director of the National Institute of Sports (NIS), Patiala. Later, he became the first youngest Goan to take over as Goa’s Director of Sports and Youth Affairs (DSYA). He was also the Regional head of SAI’s western region at Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
In the Delhi CWG, 2010, Roque was appointed as the Deputy Director General for import of equipment and emerged as one of the officers coming clean without an iota of doubt over his honesty. He also authored the book “An Inspiration to Millions – A True Story of Yoga exponent.”
Roque contributed immensely to sports development like developing infrastructure, laying of synthetic surfaces, import of equipment and preparation of the Indian teams. He represented the Govt. in Melbourne CWG to study the administration and organisational inputs to help in hosting the Games in Delhi.
In 2011, Roque interacted with the world's best scientists at the world conference in the UK. He was later instrumental in drafting a scheme in preparation of Indian team for 2020 Olympics in which the concept of Yoga for sports was introduced. A scheme for continuous training of sportsmen in the youth sector for 10-12 years with proper budget was launched and due to his pioneering efforts there was a quantum jump in excellence in sports, with India securing 187 medals at the junior international events.
Roque's proficiency in sports and social activities earned him the first National youth award from the hands of then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi. He was later deputed to Japan by the Govt. to represent India.
For the successful conduct of FIFA U-17 World Cup, Roque was appointed as the Project Director. He was the convener for drafting the Sports Code.
In 1993, Roque represented the Government at the world conference of Sports in the UK under Sports & Youth Affairs Ministry and presented a paper. Out of 79, 44 papers were selected in which his paper was approved by the International Committee for publication and published by a New York based reputed company under the book titled “Science & Racket Sports".
Roque led the delegations for the Socrexx in the UK and had a discussion for signing an agreement with Arsenal FC. He led the delegations to Uzbekistan to see the World Boxing Academy to set up World Academy in India.
It was at the instance of Roque that the State Government agreed to the upgradation of his village's Santa Cruz football ground with the grant from the Central Government. He monitored its progress and even raised issues over the standard of the work.
Churchill Alemao, president of Churchill Bros FC, who when an MP developed close contacts in New Delhi, condoled the sudden death of Roque. He said that Goa had lost a good sports administrator and described him as an accomplished sports administrator at the National level.
"He worked with SAI for several years in important positions and was elevated to the post of Executive Director, the first among the Goans. He was a reservoir and a repository of knowledge, a towering figure in the capital's sports circle. He abhorred corruption and corrupt practices and took the local authorities to task over the alleged improper laying of the artificial turf. He made a positive impact in formulating the sports policy and sports code documents. The loss of Roque is painful," added Churchill.
"We have lost a very prominent village sports personality of Santa Cruz, whose dream was to upgrade the Santa Cruz football ground with a proper artificial turf. It is Roque who initiated the proposal and kept on monitoring it thereafter on a regular basis. It is he, who pointed out that the execution of the work had to be undertaken as per proper procedure and the ground should be handed over to the club," stated Victor Gonsalves, president of Crown Club in his condolence message.
Hugo Gonsalves, secretary of Goa Volleyball Association (GVA) also condoled the untimely death of Roque, whom he described as a valuable promoter of sports whose passion was unfathomable. He will be missed especially in Santa Cruz, he added.
The Goa Badminton Association (GBA) whilst condoling the death of Roque, stated that he will be dearly missed and fondly remembered by all those whose lives he touched. He will be remembered for his instrumental role in paving the way for India's participation in the Deaflympics at Sofia, Bulgaria, after the athletes were left to fend for themselves following bitter infighting between two rival factions. His contribution will forever be remembered, stressed Sandeep Heble, GBA Secretary.
Among those who condoled Roque's death were GFA's senior vice-president Anthony Pango, GVA vice-president Kishor Narvekar.