Goa finally is getting serious about building its own dreamteam for Olympics. And it is using a purely grassroots approach to build itsown sporting database. Central Government sponsored Panchayat Yuva Krida AurKhel Abhiyan (PYKKA) is aimed at broad-basing and promotion of excellence ofsports. Raw talents from the nook and corner of the state, are being displayedthrough the 10 sports disciplines conducted under PYKKA.
According to the Sports Authority of Goa, PYKKA aims toencourage and promote sports among rural youth by providing them with basicsports infrastructure and equipments at the panchayat level. The competitionsare held at block, district, state and ultimately at the national level.
S.A.G Assistant-Secretary (Complex), Monica Dourado incharge for the PYKKA scheme this year said " I must admit that panchayatsare showing a lot of enthusiasm for sports disciplines, ensuring the childrenfrom their jurisdictions, do come out and play. I feel the key benefit of thisscheme is that, we can unearth untapped sports talents here which are notspotted by various sports associations during their selection trials".
While most panchayats may be enthusiastic, there are somepanchayats which seem to have not realised as yet, the importance of PYKKA scheme. A volleyball coachunder the condition of anonymity says "There is no support from mypanchayat. All I want to say is that I am thankful for the schools andSAG."
Another panchayat was not aware of the scheme and aftertalking to this reporter, admitted that there may have been lack ofcommunication and hence, they could not prepare their teams well. But theSarpanch vouched that for remaining competitions, they will be fully prepared.
The PYKKA competitions started in September this year andwill conclude in December. At the block level, there are 35 centres in thestate, while district level competitions are held in Margao and Panaji. Comingthrough block competitions, successful panchayats compete at the district levelbefore qualifying for the state championship, which is held at SAG headquartersat Campal. The competitions are conducted under the watchful eyes of 23'Kridashrees' who have been allotted respective centres for 187 panchayats.
Sports targeted under PYKKA are table tennis,badminton, kho-kho, football, kabaddi, archery, volleyball, taekwondo,athletics and handball.
