Amateurish plans to change TT?games venue; Rs 30 crore for opening and closing ceremonies
TEAM HERALD
sports@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The 12-member delegation that was deputed to Ranchi by the Lusofonia Games Organizing Committee 2013 (LUGOC) ostensibly to locate equipment for the forthcoming 3rd Lusofonia Games to be held in Goa in November returned virtually empty-handed finding there is no equipment worth being used except for wushu which in any case does not even have a SAG recognized association in Goa. That only exposed the incompetence and unprofessionalism of those handling the matters, with the specialist appointed to select the electronic equipment failing to make the planned two-day trip with the result a fresh visit is now being planned at the cost of the exchequer.
Ranchi hosted the 34th National Games in 2011, but whatever equipment has been left over there has been found to be obsolete with those involved in athletics indicating loud and clear that new equipment will have to be procured come what may. Only poles were available for volleyball, but buying them locally would be much more economical.
To make matters worse, Lenny D’Gama, deputy director, Sport, Lusofonia Games, has been toying with the idea of shifting the table tennis event from Peddem, Mapusa at such a late stage, that too without the permission of GOA and ACOLOP. This is possible obviously, if he is ignorant that the venue for TT has been finally approved by the ACOLOP, which is surely not the case, and as such it only shows lack of proper application and experience.
Vero Nunes, president of Goa Table Tennis Association (GTTA) and associate vice-president of Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) disclosed that Lenny had begun explorations for shifting the venue last Wednesday from the spacious 2400 square metres indoor stadium being built at Peddem, which will also host other events like taekwondo and judo to indoor stadium at Campal. “We have handled much bigger events in the past hosting even world championships of large magnitude with aplomb and these Games with just five teams, inclusive of Portugal and Brazil, pale into insignificance. But any venue has to fit into the minimum standards and requirements. Imagine parts of the roof falling apart at Campal,” pointed out Vero.
“I have even checked if the Community Hall at Taleigao is available, but with two wedding receptions booking during the first week of November, we cannot avail of the same. That leaves us with the possibility of renovating and refurbishing the Campal Stadium. The raison d’etre for shifting the venue from Peddem is the exorbitant cost of Rs 5 crore sound proof partition that will be needed since other events will also be played simultaneously at Peddem,” explained the veteran organizer, who excelled in the past as an outstanding organizer, of course not with so much financial and organizational support from the SAG.
“The visit to Ranchi was a waste of money as what we can get from there are the umpire chairs and the scoreboard, which we can easily secure from the Federation. The cost of transporting chairs from Ranchi itself will not offset the actual cost of the chairs. Certainly, planning has gone haywire,” added Vero, who obviously felt there was no participatory approach, with Goans feeling somewhat alienated from the Games organization.
In any case, if at all there are plans to shift the TT venue, then it will have to be done with the approval from ACOLOP since the venues were finalised and even incorporated in the Games Manual. Actually, LUSOG went off-track right from the beginning when it planned to have the event at Taleigao stadium being built for volleyball and basketball. Worse was the schedule of events which was overlapping. This was at the first meeting where the federation representatives were also present. It was subsequently, that the venue was shifted to Peddem and changes in the competition worked out.
Most of the associations have also found fault with the setting up of “Working Group” for all the nine disciplines (eight sport specific working group) as approved by Empowered Steering Committee. Their duty is to look after the day-to-day communication and activities so as to help with the coordination among the stakeholders, for smooth competition delivery, for successful conduct of the Games.
The working group would consist of competition manager, GOA secretary general, State association president or his representative, State association secretary, eminent sports person from Goa in the discipline and sport specific project officer, Games Secretariat. The president, secretary and sportsperson would be entitled for Rs 10,000 each per month for transportation and mobile expenses. “We will have two meetings in a month,” disclosed Lenny.
The associations observed they had not been allotted specific designated space at the Games Secretariat at Yatri Nivas, New GMC?Campus, Bambolim to conduct day-to-day communication and activities and that the roles of SAG, Directorate of Sports, Federations, GOA, State associations, organizing committee, ACOLOP, working group and others were not defined and demarcated. “Once the roles are formulated, the working group should set up their offices in order to coordinate the smooth functioning in organizing flawlessly the respective games,” they added pointing out that the honorarium of Rs.10,000 appeared to be dismal. At least one association was irked at the way some of their members were being treated as one of them, when called up for a meeting, reported at the venue only to be told that that meeting was postponed. It did not matter to LUSOG that the member had applied for leave from his duty and that it had gone waste for no fault of his.
Overall, the associations have pleaded with GOA that they ought to have a visible role in the organization of their respective events and they should also be involved in the Organization and Working Committees which they felt are heavily loaded with bureaucrats and technocrats.
“The organization has been entrusted to the respective federations and if there are any qualified officials from the associations, such a request will have to be considered by the respective National Federations, but these have to be area-specific for consideration,” remarked GOA secretary Gurudatta Bhakta.
The construction of the gigantic stadium at Peddem has also come in for criticism from the associations who felt that it could end up as a white elephant after the Games. Instead, they observed small game-specific stadiums could have been built at other locations which could be used round the year.
The budget of Rs 30 crore for the opening and closing ceremonies has also been found to be on a higher side with the associations opining that some of the allocated amount could be utilised for procuring new equipment instead of looking for second hand one.
Meanwhile, Jennifer Gonsalves, APEO, DSYA has been named as Chef-de-Mission for the Lusofonia Games by GOA. Paresh Kamat, secretary, Goa Athletic Association has been appointed Chef-de-Mission for the National Games to be held in Kerala in 2014.
