Ghode Sports: 52 Not Out

Ghode Sports, a sports accessories shop in Margao, set up in 1961, is still going strong and a favourite among sports lovers

Bharati Pawaskar / The Goan | JANUARY 12, 2013, 07:27 AM IST

It’s eleven in the morning and the Margao market is abuzzwith activity, but enter Ghode Sports near Grace Church square, and time seemsto stand still. Here, everything is relaxed. The owner Pundalik Kashinath Ghodeis at ease, reading through the newspapers, while his lone assistant JanaPadwal efficiently handles visiting customers and promptly hands over theordered goods.

In the warm and welcoming atmosphere elderly Pundalik getsnostalgic and recalls that during the ‘good old days’ an ivory striker (used incarrom), would cost Rs1.50, a cricket ball Rs 5 and a shuttlecock only 6, 8 or10 annas depending on the brand. “Today a cricket ball costs between Rs250-300, a shuttlecock Rs 30, and the ivory striker is rare in the market. Itcosts more than Rs 3,000 now and one needs a licence to sell it,” smilesPundalik as he narrates his experiences in the business.

As an ardent lover of sports, young Pundalik did not give uptotally on his passion when his father, the noted Marathi writer, KashinathGhode passed on the responsibility of taking care of the family on his youngshoulders in the 1960s. 

“My father worked in the government administrativedepartment at Margao and was a writer who penned around 18 books in hislifetime. I loved sports and was a champion in college but a career in sportswas meant only for the rich and royal. So I chose a business that kept me closeto sports,” shares Pundalik who opened the first sports accessories shop inSouth Goa way back in 1961 in the New Market area in Margao and later shiftedto the present venue in 1975.

Speaking further on his sports business, Pundalik admitsthat in those days, spending on sports accessories was a privilege of the eliteclass. He invested Rs 20,000 to buy a shop-full of sports goods then.“Initially I had to import goods from Karachi in Pakistan. I had taken a vowthat I would always sell only original goods and I am happy I could keep ittill date,” says the septuagenarian, who voices sadness over the flooding ofthe markets with cheap Chinese sports goods.

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