VASCO
Goan ace windsurfer Katya Coelho returned to Goa on Monday late at night after winning Gold in the recently held Asian Games qualifiers in Mumbai. She was accompanied by her brother Dwayne Coelho and father Donald Coelho at the Goa Airport in Dabolim.
Windsurfer Katya will be the only girl to consecutively represent India at the Asian Games in China this September.
"I won Gold and it has been a very good experience for me. I learned a lot about sailing because this was the toughest one, we sailed over 20 knots speed. It was a very challenging one for me and we will now participate at the Asian Games in September in China. I will be the only Indian woman to participate in Windsurfing for the second time in a row," said Katya Coelho.
Her brother Dwayne Coelho who won a silver medal said that the place where races were conducted for the qualifiers was not proper with garbage in the water.
"We also had some unfortunate incidents but my journey has been exciting. I had won the trials in 2022 but with the Asian Games being postponed amidst the pandemic, the trials had to be taken all over again. I missed the first event because I got dengue just two days prior and I did not have enough time to get well-trained for these trials," said Dwayne Coelho.
Katya's father, Donald Coelho who is also their coach said that the Government must come forward to promote Windsurfing as a sport, especially since Goa had all the resources including a long coastline and the seas available for training.
"In 2009, I started an academy but I was disappointed that we didn't get the required support. Michael Lobo had taken us to former Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar who went ahead and got my son Dwayne the grants under the Excellence of Sports scheme. Late Parrikar had also assured us of all the support and came out with a scheme and though he started the plans for the scheme, he is no more," said Donald.
Donald Coelho said that Windsurfing was a very expensive sport.
"The sport is so expensive that equipment and coaching in Europe could cost as much as paying coaches 600 euros per day. We would love the Government, especially Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to look into our progress and get us the right training because we have seven months in hand before we leave for the Asian Games," Donald added.
Windsurfer Katya will be the only girl to consecutively represent India at the Asian Games in China this September.
"I won Gold and it has been a very good experience for me. I learned a lot about sailing because this was the toughest one, we sailed over 20 knots speed. It was a very challenging one for me and we will now participate at the Asian Games in September in China. I will be the only Indian woman to participate in Windsurfing for the second time in a row," said Katya Coelho.
Her brother Dwayne Coelho who won a silver medal said that the place where races were conducted for the qualifiers was not proper with garbage in the water.
"We also had some unfortunate incidents but my journey has been exciting. I had won the trials in 2022 but with the Asian Games being postponed amidst the pandemic, the trials had to be taken all over again. I missed the first event because I got dengue just two days prior and I did not have enough time to get well-trained for these trials," said Dwayne Coelho.
Katya's father, Donald Coelho who is also their coach said that the Government must come forward to promote Windsurfing as a sport, especially since Goa had all the resources including a long coastline and the seas available for training.
"In 2009, I started an academy but I was disappointed that we didn't get the required support. Michael Lobo had taken us to former Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar who went ahead and got my son Dwayne the grants under the Excellence of Sports scheme. Late Parrikar had also assured us of all the support and came out with a scheme and though he started the plans for the scheme, he is no more," said Donald.
Donald Coelho said that Windsurfing was a very expensive sport.
"The sport is so expensive that equipment and coaching in Europe could cost as much as paying coaches 600 euros per day. We would love the Government, especially Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to look into our progress and get us the right training because we have seven months in hand before we leave for the Asian Games," Donald added.
