"India's overall target should be to get to double digits and win at least two gold medals in Rio Olympics in 2016,"
Viren Rasquinha, former Indian hockey captainTHE GOAN NETWORK
MARGAO
There is an urgent need for India’s quest for Olympic medals to spread far and wide and become a peoples' movement, stated Arjuna awardee and former Indian hockey captain Viren Rasquinha. He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Founder’s Day celebration held at Smt Parvatibhai Chowgule College of Arts and Science here on Tuesday.
The former central midfielder, who retired at the age of 27 after playing in 180 odd matches for the country and now CEO of the Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ), said: “The Olympic Gold Quest is exciting people from across the country, companies, corporate and we need to make it a people’s movement.”
Olympic Gold Quest is a non-profit organisation whose motto is to win Olympic Gold medals. It has several top sportspersons as Directors including tennis star Leander paes, Cueist Geet Sethi, Chess Grandmaster Vishwanath Anand and badminston stalwart Prakash Padukone.
OGQ trains athletes in eight sporting disciplines which include badminton, boxing, shooting, archery, athletics, wrestling, table tennis and swimming, across the length and breadth of the country and the movement is monitored by Viren and his team from its headquarters in Mumbai.
The Mumbai-born player said that the country should not wake up on the eve of the Olympics but long term planning is needed if the country is to improve its dismissal medals tally at the quadrennial event.
“I do not want India to wake up six months before the Olympics. Six years go into the making of a potential Olympic medallist. So we need to really prepare well and give the athletes the best possible support and facilities, not just the right facilities but at the right time.There is no point in giving the best gun to Gagan Narian, just one month before the Olympics," he said.
On India's chances at next year's Rio Olympics, Viren said he hates setting targets.“I am not fond of setting targets and in terms of numbers, it does not work, you never know what will happen," he reasoned out.
"India's overall target should be to get to double digits and win at least two gold medals in Rio Olympics in 2016," he added.
Presently OGQ has 70 athletes under its wings, which includes 24 juniors, but the Olympic quest movement will shift gears post Rio, disclosed Viren, who joined the OGQ in 2009.
“We are working on a blueprint for developing an ecosystem for sports post Rio. We have many plans to develop the ecosystem for sports in India and I want to take forward the plan, that is part of the plan to scale up OGQ for the 2020 and 2024 Olympics," he said, adding:“We will have around 200 athletes training with us, for this we will needs more funds."
“In Goa we have the support of Shrinivas Dempo of the Dempo Group of companies. He has given a three-year commitment for the cause," informed Viren.
