MARGAO
Sports Minister Govind Gaude on Saturday said the compositon of the Goa teams for the ensuing National Games will be based on the 70:30 criteria laid down by the Indian Olympics Association (IOA) and the Federation on guidelines.
Gaude was replying to a query from scribes how the sports department will go about in the selection on of players for the various events for the national games. “By the 70:30 per cent criteria, the teams will comprise of 70 per cent Goans”, he said.
The Sports Minister, however, hastened to remind the media that the Games are a National event, and that while preference will be given to the local talent in the compositon of the team, everyone will have to respect the National spirit.
He inspected the Manohar Parrikar Indoor Stadium in Navelim. Navelim MLA Ulhas Tuenkar was also present along with other officials.
Gaude said that three sport disciplines “ roll ball, net ball and basketball -- will be conducted at this venue. Roll ball will kick-off the Games from October 23 to 28, while net ball will be held from October 30 October to 3 November and basketball from November 4 to 8.
The sports minister also said that a venue commandant has been appointed at every venue along with an assistant commandant who will be at the bureaucrat level. "As overall, Goa in-charge, revenue secretary Sandeep Jacques is closely monitoring all the preparedness of the venues," he said.
“As far as Navelim complex is concerned, it will have a dining area, satellite kitchen, athletes lounge, halls, etc. It will be an ideal venue for executing these disciplines in Goa. Preparations are at a war- footing. Completing venues is not the only concern, we need to look into spectators concerns as well like stands, parking, demarcation, etc. So, we are getting ready all these aspects by 21 October. For the shift of disciplines, we have kept a buffer of 1 day for the set-up change,” he informed.
“Fatorda venue is ready in terms of sporting infrastructure, only the opening ceremony designing, VIP, green lounges, is under way. Also, lawn tennis infrastructure work will be completed by Saturday evening as it was held up due to rain. Even the Illumination is ready and as per the flux requirement,” he added.
Apart from the inauguration, there will be entertainment as well as many programmes, including singers from Goa.
"Olympic javelin gold winner Neeraj Chopra will lead the torch rally," he added.
