ARMSTRONG VAZ
QATAR
Coelho siblings Dayne and Katya who did the State proud being the only Goans in the over 500-odd Indian contingent at the Asian Games in Indonesia will arrive in Goa on Sunday.
The brother-sister combination coached by their father Donald, former windsurfing champion, could not make a mark in the Mixed RX One category at the sailing event in which China topped followed by Hong Kong and Malaysia.
Failure at the continental event has disappointed them but they have assured to fight back and said their immediate focus will be the Olympics.
“We would like to thank you all for the love and support for Dayne and Katya. Unfortunately due to unavoidable circumstances their hard work did not produce good results for the State and
the country. We believe and have set an example to our children that: ‘Every time we fall we will rise up again,” the mother of the siblings, Ambika Paes e Coelho wrote in a facebook post.
“It has been a very frustrating journey but we have not given up on our dream to achieve a medal for our beautiful state of Goa and India,” Dayne (20) said.
But for that to happen they will need help both from the State and central government in terms of technical expertise and foreign exposure, the Coelho family from Calangute, who have invested around Rs 2 crore of their family money training the children, said.
“I have been training Dayne for the last few years. It is now time for me to move away. It will be a better option and a correct one for him to train under a qualified coach, preferably a foreigner. Our focus is the 2020 Olympics. International and scientific coaching has to be adopted. Dayne is young and has reached a level where his records speak for himself. I have brought him to this level with more than 90% funds from our personal family resources,” said Donald.
Donald said mental focus is a key
ingredient and the turn of events leading to the Games were not the ideal situation going into an international competition.
“Focus is very important at a sports event. Where 60% is your fitness and 40% is your mental focus that counts. Today it was an honour and I am proud to see my children on the podium as part of the Indian contingent although our aim was to bag a medal for our country,” added
the three-time national champion.
The siblings made the trip to Indonesia with old windsurfing boards and with a couple of days left for the competition to kick off, Donald had to air-dash to Signapore to buy one second hand board for $700 while leasing another one for $800.
Heading to the Games they were confident of a good show, but suffered two misfortunes on the first two days of the competition effectively ruling out their chances in the 15-league eight-day competition.
“They were riddled with mishaps from day one, the fin of the board broke and their father-cum-coach had to go around fixing it, then the universal joint broke...,” informed Nelita Coelho, paternal aunt of the siblings.
She also said that compared to other participants the rivals had the best of equipment and coaches at their command.
The family is, however, skeptical of any help coming from the state government in the Olympic preparations after their request to the SAG to have two windsurfing boards five months before the Games did not materialise.
Donald is hoping Goa Yatching Association in collaboration with Sports Authority of Goa and other government organizations’ will give more attention to the sailing sports in the state, which he has huge potential as a leisure sports.
