The state taekwondo association is working towards winning more medals at the Lusofonia games in Goa, the only sport that India has excelled in the earlier games
The Lusofonia games are less than a year away and with agreat deal of attention being placed on the delay in the construction offacilities, there may be a feeling that it may be all gloom and doom. However,taekwondo the one sport in which athletes have won medals in the previous twoeditions of the games is now being paid more attention to, inorder to increasethe tally in the third edition to be held in the state.
Theophile Lowe, one of the coaches responsible for trainingof the probables at Margao said thattraining of the thirty strong squad was going on schedule and that it was practices were being held twice a day.Asked what his expectations were from his team in the third edition he said“Well since there will be eight athletes participating, I would like them towin medals. The training is going on schedule and there is time but we aretraining vigorously.” Training is beingconducted by Theophile in Margao and by Suni Sharma in Ponda.
The sport has added eights medals to the Indian tally in thelast two games. The state did not win medals in the any other event in thegames. The athletes won a silver and bronze medal at Macau and a gold, silverand four bronze in Lisbon. However these achievements have not been a flash inthe pan.
This performance is also in keeping with the performance ofthe state’s athletes in various national and international tournaments. In 2011, Goa’s taekwondo players who werepart of the Indian team at the 5th Commonwealth Taekwondo Championship won 3gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze to help the nation win 21 gold, 23 silver and 45bronze and secure first position.
Keeping these performances in mind, the coach Lowe felt thatthe state would be able to put up a very strong team and that there would beplace for only one national athlete to be present in the squad. He said “In oneweight category, we will not be able to compete, which will require us to getsomeone from the country to be part of the team.”
Asked what the reason was behind the performance of thestate’s athletes, Lowe said that the motivation and the tough trainingschedules meant that the team was always fit and on top of their game.
In 2009, following their performance at Lisbon, the GoaOlympic Association felicitated the winners with cash rewards. Chandan Lakrawas awarded Rs 10,000 for winning gold. J Kavita, Rs 7,000 for winning silverwhile Sharol Fernandes, Reema Aranha, Rashmi Naik and Anand Rajan were awardedRs 5000 each, for wining bronze.
It may be gratifying for sports lovers to learn that despitethe negative media coverage on the games, atleast there is one sports body inthe state devoted to building on past laurels and not resting on them.
