TEAM HERALD
sports@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Goan kombo (rooster) has been selected as the mascot for the 3rd Lusofonia Games to be held in Goa in November.
The Organizing Committee of the Games has approved the mascot which will be officially released in May. There are many renditions of the mascot being worked out at the moment, stated Keshav Chandra, sports secretary and CEO of the Games, who added that the Art and Cultural Department has been given the task of finalizing the design.
“Nothing has been finalized about the design as yet. Several options are being considered and when finalized it will be officially released,” stated GOA secretary Gurudatta Bhakta. Meanwhile, a copy of the logo was presented to the media persons after the press briefing on Tuesday in Panjim.
The Goa teams preparing for the Games will be provided with top facilities commensurate with international standards during the coaching period, stated Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar.
Addressing the representatives of GFA (Schubert Furtado), GVA (Santosh Bandodkar), TT (Vero Nunes), judo (Gurudas Bhakta), taekwondo (Mandrekar), athletics (Sandeep) associations and the basketball squad in-charge Sandeep Warlikar, Tawadkar stated that superior quality kit, higher diet allowance will be provided to the teams and that they could even undertake exposure trips to Pune so that they can practice in conditions similar to those to be created in the State for the Games.
The only absentee was the representative of wushu, which has been introduced for the first time in Lusofonia Games. A source indicated that there is no officially recognized wushu association in Goa and that there was one group from Delhi which had sought registration with the Registrar of Cooperatives Societies in Goa.
Sports Secretary and Games CEO Keshav Chandra, SAG’s Executive Director Sandip Jacques, SAG’s Chief Engineer J Chimulkar, SAG’s assistant secretaries Navin Acharya, Vivek Pawar and Mahesh Naik were also present.
Rozario Estibeiro ROUND-THE-CLOCK: Work in full swing during night at the venue which will host the main athletics event of 3rd Lusofonia Games at Bambolim, Saturday. |
