The nation is still in darkness about the exact time that Goa will be hosting the National Games with the recent plea by the sports minister Babu Ajgaonkar, urging the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) “ the governing body for the National Games “ for three more months’ extension from the current schedule of November 2018.
The Games have been delayed since initially mooted for 2011, but not entirely should the blame be attributed to Goa. While the 36th edition was allotted to Goa, the previous two Games to be conducted in Jharkhand and Kerala, themselves suffered delays only to be organised in 2011 and 2015 respectively. The idea of having National Games is prompted by the Olympic movement. Initially being organised to identify national talent that could be picked for the Olympic Games, the multi-sport event named ‘Indian Olympic Games’ made its debut in Lahore in 1924.
These Games were held regularly with the gap of two years from 1924 to 1938. After being repackaged as National Games, the further four editions were staged from 1940-46 under the aegis of IOA. However after independence, the pattern suffered due to delays by host states.
Goa, who were in the past guilty of inexplicable delay in their readiness for the Lusofonia Games orginally allotted for 2009 with the event then moved to Lisbon-Portugal, had hosted the Games for former Portuguese colonies in January 2014 after a delay of five years.
However, looking forward to the prospect of the much-bigger National Games, the state had already seemed to have completed a sizeable task with the creation of new infrastructure at Bambolim and Taleigao, upgradation of stadia at Fatorda and Peddem. The momentum should have been maintained and Goa could have been ready with full-fledged infrastructure for the over 30-sports disciplines. Whatever may be the reasons, one glaring question is whether the state really stands to benefit from the Games being held here?
While the idea of IOA to allot the prestigious Games to various states is to give them a chance to improve their sports infrastructure and in the process inspire sportspersons to pursue excellence, it may be too far-fetched to expect the same from Goa as the state seems to have never shown any inclination to produce top-draw players en masse.
Apart from a few individuals who have hogged national glory, Goa is devoid of a decent number of athletes representing the state at the nationals. As such, the expensive state-of-the art infrastructure could be under-utilised post National Games, while the government will be burdened with huge maintenance cost.
For bigger states with great potential to produce Olympic potential sportspersons, the high-standard sports facilities that come up for the National Games, are indeed a boon. However, with Goa hardly being the provider of talent for Indian Olympic contingent, the investment does not look like it can provide optimum result.
