Goa crosses double digits but could have done much better
The 150-member Goan contingent that participated in the 38th National Games in Uttarakhand.
Photo Credits: The Goan
PANAJI
At the 38th National Games held in Uttarakhand from 28 January - 14 February 2025, Goa won 10 medals (2 gold, 4 silver and 4 bronze) to finish in 27th position in the overall medal tally.
The 150-member Goan contingent which included 121 athletes (84 male and 37 female) and 29 coaches won medals in five disciplines - Modern Pentathlon, Squash, Yogasana, Beach Volleyball and Kallariyapayattu.
The biggest success story for Goa was undoubtedly Modern Pentathlon wherein the state won a record seven medals (4 silver and 3 bronze) and its star performer was Babu Gaonkar who won four silver in four different events i.e. Laser Run Individual Men's category, Laser Run Men's Team event, Tetrathlon Men's Team event and Laser Run Mixed Relay.
Babu Gaonkar is now the most decorated Goan athlete in the history of the National Games with six medals (1 gold and 5 silver). During the last edition in Goa, he had won 1 gold and 1 silver.
Among other top performers for Goa were Suraj Velip, who won four medals (2 silver and 2 bronze) and Neha Gaunkar, who bagged two medals (1 silver and 1 bronze) in Modern Pentathlon. Suraj Velip, too, has won a total of six medals (2 silver and 4 bronze) in two editions of the National Games.
In squash, Akanksha Salunkhe defended her title as she defeated Maharashtra's Anjali Semwal 3-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-4) in a completely one-sided game to win the women's singles squash gold.
Yet another gold for Goa came in the traditional yogasana category, wherein Shubham Debnath performed extremely well to finish first with a score of 61.58 points. Shubham had also won gold during the last edition at Goa in 2023.
The beach volleyball pair of Rama Dhawaskar and Nitin Sawant did well to bag a bronze. This was Rama's third medal, after having previously won a bronze in 2015 (Kerala) and 2022 (Gujarat) along with Pralhad Dhawaskar and Aaron Pereira respectively.
Goa also won gold in the demonstration sport Kallariyapayattu. Bhuvaneshwari Jadhav from Shiroda clinched gold in the Kaiporu category (Above 60 kg Girls Section).
But, there were disappointments too. The biggest of them being the football, swimming and taekwondo squad which failed to win any medals.
The men’s football team, a medal contender, was a huge disappointment as they finished last in their group, thereby crashing out of the tournament. Goa could manage to win only against Mizoram 2-0. They lost to Assam 3-2 and Uttarakhand 4-1. Poor defence cost them both the matches.
In swimming, Goa's biggest medal hope Shrungi Bandekar, narrowly missed out on a medal in her favourite events - women's 200m individual medley and 400m individual medley - as she finished fourth.
Goa failed to win a taekwondo medal at the National Games for the first time in over 30 years as the four-member squad comprising of P Anand, Rajvir Yadav, Divya Manikyala and Taiwa Mascarenhas, made an early first-round exit.
Anand’s loss was a big blow. After all, he was a three-time gold medalist, having won gold in the last three editions in 2011 (Jharkhand), 2015 (Kerala) and 2023 (Goa).
Goa also participated in Archery, Athletics, Beach Handball, Boxing, Cycling, Handball, Mallakhamb, Shooting, Triathlon, Weightlifting and Wushu, but did not win any medals in these disciplines.
Overall, it was an average performance by the Goan contingent. States and Union Territories such as Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh and Arunachal Pradesh having much smaller populations performed better than Goa. While Chandigarh (4 gold) won 19 medals, Arunachal Pradesh (4 gold) bagged 13 medals and Andaman & Nicobar Islands won 10 medals which included 5 gold.
Goa could have done much better had its football, swimming and taekwondo squad performed as per the team’s expectations.
Goan athletes still have a long way to go and need to improve a lot in several disciplines if they have to compete at the national level and win medals.
