PANAJI
The Goa Sports Foundation has called upon Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant to open up all stadiums for the school students and State sports associations.
While talking to journalists, GSF General Secretary Licio Roncon urged the State government to not only open the stadiums for promising players and sports associations but also highlighted the need to name the stadiums after Goan sports stars.
Referring to Sawant’s recent announcement to name the athletic stadium at Bambolim after ace athlete late Milkha Singh, he urged the decision-makers to motivate Goan sportspersons by naming stadiums with Goan performers on the athletic turf. Roncon said that the State government has created sports infrastructure worth Rs 300 crore, which should be put to optimum use to nurture sports talent in the State.
“There are five schools and one college at Cujira, Bambolim and the Goa government could implement a scheme similar to Delhi as a pilot project, where the stadiums are free to use with certain conditions, and later on other stadiums, as synthetic surface validity is for six years,” Roque Dias, the GSF president said.
“The GSF requests the government to open all stadiums for promising players, including para-sports, blind sports, deaf sports and special Olympic sports with requisite facilities. Even Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium with floodlights should be provided free of cost to the State association like volleyball, chess, basketball for competitions/coaching camps and at least for 40 days in preparation of Goa teams for Nationals, so players are acquainted with facilities during competitions,” he added.
Roncon pointed out that Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium and the Bambolim Athletic Stadium have been underutilised ever since they were completed. Since these venues have synthetic surfaces which have a maximum life span of six years irrespective of the hours of usage, opening the stadiums to students will motivate the younger generation to take up a liking to the sport and also ensure maximum utilisation of these playing surfaces, Roncon added.
