Over 300 school students could be deprived of sports meritmarks, thanks to the Sports Authority of Goa. In the rush against time tocomplete the infrastructure for the 3rd Lusofonia Games to be held in the statein November this year, the departments razed the only field hockey stadia inthe state to set up a synthetic athletic track at Peddem, Mapusa, with noalternative site being accorded for the sport.
Goans Hockey, has in a letter to the SAG and Directorate ofSports and Youth Affairs requested that an alternate hockey ground be providedimmediately to host the state championships. “We are currently awaiting theavailability of a hockey ground to conduct the state championships for Men andWomen in Senior, Junior and Sub junior categories,” states the letter.
When contacted Elvis Gomes, Executive Director of SAG,stated “they could use the ground at Ganeshpuri, near St Xavier’s college (inMapusa).” That raised quite an eyebrow, because the said ground has played hosttill date, to only village cricket and football being played by the local youthin their spare time. Elvis also offered to have a pitch arranged at Campal.“I’ll make a place available in Campal for hockey, although it may not be theground they want,” he said. That again, raised even more eyebrows.
The deputy Chief Minister Francis D’ Souza a vociferouscampaigner for a hockey astro-turf at the Peddem ground, also gave the samesolution. “Lusofonia is our first priority now. They can use the housing Boardground (at Ganeshpuri),” stated the minister, who is also a Mapusa legislatorand a hockey player.
Goans Hockey, though, is making all efforts on their part tosee that the students don’t suffer.”We are trying to have some matches at theDon Bosco (Panjim) ground,” revealed Dexter Periera, the Treasurer. “But we canhave only one match in the evening daily because the ground is used by the schoolduring the day. This means, the tournament will take a month to complete,” herued adding that it would interfere with the scholastic activities.
Take a step further. Will the ground ever return to Peddemor has it suffered a premature death? Officials in the department who requestedanonymity said that there is no provision being made for an Astroturf in thecurrent blueprint of the infrastructure setup for the games. It may be in thesecond phase, they revealed. “We are committed to giving a hockey turf,” saidElvis without mentioning when and where it would come up. That field hockey isin doldrums, is no state secret but that it should be treated with such apathy,is a matter of concern, especially when it’s the national game.
The Goan had in an earlier edition (November 24, 2012)exposed how the same department had behaved when the state hockey team wasinvited to participate at a similar event in Portugal in 2009.
It’s high time the department wakes up and makes immediateprovisions to have a hockey field in place so that school students don’t losemarks because of a department that has failed miserably.
