Avertano, Glen, Benjamin yet to submit report on 2012 MX World Championship visit
TEAM HERALD
sports@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The president of Goa Motor Sports Association, (GMSA) Ashely Gomes of Candolim, who has been instrumental not only in launching the two-wheeler sport and also sustaining it in the State, taking it dizzy heights but also making it big at the national level, resigned today after 11 years.
In a letter addressed to SAG, Ashley stated: “Our Goa Government seems to be not interested in promoting motorsports in our State, but only mega alcohol festivals like Sun Burn, etc. If Goa wants to promote alcohol to Goan youth, instead of motorsports, then that is not my cup of tea, and I would not want to be a part of this and as such I take moral responsibility for the decline of MX in our State. I resign as president of GMSA, with disgust due to the treatment meted out to me and all other members of the GMSA by our very own Government.”
“Stop sending me any further correspondence, as GMSA does not exist any more, and the Govt through its SAG is free to revive the GMSA and appoint whosoever is qualified to promote this highly technical and dangerous sport in our State,” stressed Ashley.
When contacted, Ashley confirmed that he had resigned and that it was with a heavy heart that he was doing so, pointing out that inspite of no support from the Govt, the GMSA had managed to take the sport to its highest level, not just in Goa, but across the nation, through the only prestigious MX Championship that takes place in the country.
“We were rewarded by the national federation FMSCI for our excellent performance and were crowned the best MX organisers in India, thus Goa got the rights to host the first ever National MX Championship in 2011. Goa also got the rights to host the biggest sporting extravaganza in our country, namely to host one of the rounds of the FIM World MX Championship way back in 2005. But Goa takes more pride in hosting Lusofonia Games which are for Portuguese speaking countries, and not Goa’s pride, and sidetracks the MX World Championship, which is the second biggest sporting event after Formula 1 in 2011 (Noida ) in the history of India,” pointed out Ashley.
“The GMSA has been neglected for over 10 years now, without receiving any grants whatsoever from the SAG. Despite several reminders and personal meetings with all concerned, which includes the SAG’s ED and the sports minister, nothing has happened. In the past, the previous Govt went to the extent of stopping an all-India level MX championship getting into my private property, without any warrant nor order, and that too armed with AK 47s for which a criminal case has been filed by us against the Govt. The case is still pending in the court in Goa for around three years now, and nothing seems to be progressing for the sport, and to make matters worse there has been no MX races in our State for the past three years, thus bringing shame for Goa and especially Goans,” remarked Ashley.
It may be recalled that once the Parrikar government took over, there appeared to be very bright chances for the revival of motorsports since an official delegation headed by Labour and Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado alongwith MLAs Glen Ticlo and Benjamin D’Silva was deputed for the MX World Championship organised by YouthStream in Winchester City, in which Avertano spelt out Govt’s plans to host an MXGP in India and to make Goa a fix date on the Motocross World Championship calendar. The press conference was hosted at Matterley Basin highlighting the promising future of motocross in Goa and India.
Avertano read out a letter from Chief Minister Parrikar congratulating Ashley Gomes and his team for the great job they were doing in Goa promoting motocross at National level and also he expressed his sincere gratitude to Giuseppe Luongo and Dr Wolfgang Srb of YouthStream for supporting their project to promote motocross in India and to host a Grand Prix in the near future. That was in August 20, 2012.
It will be a year now when the 2013 Motocross World Championship will be held in Winchester City on August 25, when YouthStream will surely would be looking for the prospects of holding the event in Goa in future given the high hopes given by the delegation, but sad to say the delegation has not even filed a report on the visit with the SAG, which had borne the entire expenditure to London, or else plans could have been worked out all this time about the possibilities of hosting the biggest motocross event in the history of Goa sports. This was a rare opportunity that Goa was offered on a platter but now seems to be only a pipe dream.
One wonders, if this is the raison d’etre for Ashley’s resignation, since he had high hopes that his friend Parrikar would continue to back him like he had done in the years gone by as the leader of the opposition.
