PANAJI
It is by now common knowledge that State Associations of several sports disciplines have borrowed players and athletes from other States in their quest to bag medals at the upcoming 37th edition of the National Games.
Yet for some who lost out their spot in the Goan squad to the imports it's been heartbreaking.
Take the case of three top Goan shuttlers -- Floyd Araujo, Aryaman Saraf and Yash Halarnkar who have been left out of the Goan badminton squad and outstation players included in the bid for securing medals.
The trio in an emotional letter to the Association, copy of which has been marked to the Sports Minister Govind Gaude, the trio have also sought a meeting with the selection committee chief and secretary to understand the criteria adopted and their exclusion.
Competition in the badminton discipline begins on Thursday, October 19 at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee stadium at Bambolim.
The Araujo-Halarnkar-Saraf trio in their letter have also questioned the absence of the selected outstation players from the preparatory camp which they were told was compulsory.
Although Goa is not qualified to participate in many of sports disciplines, it gets the privilege to field its squads by virtue of being hosts. The State associations have therefore taken a conscious decision to bring in some better players in the quest of a good performance, lest the hosts cut a sorry picture on the field.
A similar strategy was adopted by the State during the Lusofonia Games Goa hosted in 2014.
