PANAJI
Matches in badminton at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee stadium at Bambolim kicked off the competition at the 37th National Games being hosted by Goa on Thursday although the games will be formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the grand opening ceremony at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru stadium at Fatorda on October 26.
The competition in badminton was ceremoniously inaugurated by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant who said Goa is eager and ready to welcome the participating athletes, said to be more than a thousand.
The Games has competition in 43 sports disciplines and is touted India's 'mini Olympics'. However volleyball is in all probability to be dropped although the organising committee has not formally announced the cancellation.
Sawant meanwhile in a brief speech said he hoped the National Games will serve as the perfect platform for all athletes to shine in the future at the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and the Olympics.
The chief minister also urged Goans to witness the event at all the venues.
“My message to all youth is, play on the grounds instead of playing on mobiles,” he said.
Meanwhile, in the action on the courts, favourites in the women's section, Assam, started their campaign in style routing West Bengal 4-1 in the group A.
In the men's section, Karnataka and Maharashtra also notched up wins in the opening encounters defeating Uttarakhand (4-1) and Assam (3-2) respectively.
Meanwhile Goa's women went down fighting to Punjab 3-2 in their Group B encounter.
The top team from each group will advance to the final.
Goa's campaign suffered a setback early as Anjana Kumari injured her leg and was forced to concede the third singles against Manya Ralhan with the match poised at 2-1 in Punjab’s favour.
Sakshi Kurbhelgi had given Goa the lead with a 21-16, 21-18 win over Samridhi but Radhika Sharma restored parity of Punjab with a 21-16, 17-21, 21-18 victory over Anura Prabhudesai. She then teamed up with Ralhan to win the doubles rubber 21-18, 21-9 against Prabhudesai and Lydia Barretto.
The Goans however fought hard despite Anjana’s injury. Anagha Karandikar and Anamika Singh defeated Saanvi Nautiyal and Liza Taank 12-21, 21-18, 21-17 to narrow the margin to 3-2.
