PANAJI
Goa’s disappointing run in taekwondo continued at the 38th National Games in Uttarakhand. After football and swimming, Goa’s yet another medal prospect sport taekwondo did not fetch any medal for the state at the ongoing National Games.
The four member Goan taekwondo squad comprising of P. Anand, Rajvir Yadav, Divya Manikyala and Taiwa Mascarenhas, all of them made an early first round exit.
In fact, this will be for the first time in more than 30 years that Goa will not win a taekwondo medal at the National Games.
Since 1994, when Goa first won a medal in taekwondo at the National Games, the sport has been in the forefront of the medal hunt, winning honours at every edition of the Games.
Sunil Sharma, Theophine Lowe, Angela de Abreu Naik and Prajakta Mishal all won gold medals at Pune during 1994 National Games. Since then, taekwondo has provided a rich haul of medals, except at Gujarat in 2022 when the sport was dropped due to factionalism within the federation.
Angela de Abreu Naik was the first taekwondo player from Goa to win two gold medals at the National Games in 1994 (Pune) and 1997 (Bangalore).
Sunil Sharma also won two gold in 1994 (Pune) and 1999 (Manipur). He even won a bronze in 2001 (Punjab).
Another Goan athlete, Prajakta Mishal won gold in 1994 (Pune), silver in 1997 (Bangalore) and bronze in 1999 (Manipur).
Goa’s star taekwondo player P. Anand went one step ahead by beating Angela de Abreu Naik’s record to win three gold medals in three different editions of National Games - 2011 (Jharkhand), 2015 (Kerala) and 2023 (Goa). However, this time around in Uttarakhand, Anand could not add yet another medal to his kitty as he lost to his opponent from Karnataka 2-1 in a closely fought encounter.
Anand’s loss was a big blow to Goa. After all, he was considered as a strong medal prospect for the state given his impressive track record.
An international-level athlete, Anand had even represented the country during 2010 and 2014 Asian Games and has also won gold at South Asian championships in 2010 and 2016 and bronze at Commonwealth Championship in 2011.
During 2011 (Jharkhand) and 2015 (Kerala) National Games, Goa had a dream run with the state winning six medals in taekwondo in each of these Games.
In 2011, P. Anand and Aman Kumar were the golden boys of Goa. Chandan Lakra and D Veera won silver while Siraj Khan and Sumit Tiwari bagged bronze.
During 2015 National Games in Kerala, Goa again won six medals (1 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze). Brothers P. Anand and P. Saravana Kumar won gold and silver during those Games and followed up with a similar performance during last National Games held in Goa in 2023.
Vivek Kumar (silver) and Dingku Laishram, Khalid Mulla and Sagar Palconda (bronze) were other medals winners for Goa in taekwondo in 2015.
The sport was dropped in 2022 during Gujarat National Games due to internal dispute within the federation.
In 2023, during Goa Games, when the sport returned, the state again won medals in taekwondo; this time three of them (2 gold and 1 silver) with P. Anand and Rodali Barua (gold) and P. Saravana Kumar (silver) contributing to the medal tally.
With no medals in taekwondo at Uttarakhand in 2025, it marks a stark decline of the sport in the state that had been always in the forefront of medals at the National Games.
