PANAJI
The Government of Goa will scale up the tribal sports festival to the national level from 2024-25 season, announced Sports Minister Govind Gaude at Bambolim on Friday during the occasion of launching of the logo for the upcoming 8th all-Goa Tribal Sports Festival to be held on May 11 and 12 at Ponda sports complex and Karai ground, Shiroda.
The Sports Minister emphasised on the importance of Tribal Sports Festival being held under the tribal sub-plan, saying: "In such festivals, the tribal community gets opportunities to test their skill and talent. Most often it is noticed that raw talents from rural areas, hinterlands miss out on a general platform, due to various constraints. This festival endeavours to provide them the special platform to explore their potential and give them sustained motivation...And mind you, our tribal players have excelled across various sports events in general at national and international level."
Goa is now known for successfully hosting national and international sports events, and Gaude declared that a national tribal sports event is in the offing adding to the state's image as a sports tourism destination. "We envision a national-level tribal sports festival with participation of the tribal-dominated states from the country in the near future. It will lead to a very healthy competition and strengthen Goan team with necessary experience," asserted Gaude.
Sports Authority of Goa first organised tribal sports festival in 2008 with three events, and has now expanded it to seven disciplines this year. Competitions will be held in volleyball, kabaddi, kho-kho, tennis-ball cricket, lagori, langadi and tug of war. A total of 1776 players from across all 12 talukas of Goa, and 659 technical officials will be part of the grand total participation of 2435 at the two-day festival. A total prize money of Rs 3,55,000 including cash for winners, runners-up and individual prizes, will be presented.
Gaude also announced that seven tribal sportspersons will be felicitated during the Tribal Sports Festival 2023 for their inspirational achievements in various sports disciplines. The players are Rowlin Borges (football), Ankita Gaude (baseball), Deepak Gaonkar (kho-kho), Deepesh Jalmi (mallakhamb), Nitin Sawant (volleyball), Sarvesh Gaude (tennis-ball cricket) and Sahish M Gaude (kabaddi).
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant will be the chief guest for the inaugural ceremony at Ponda sports complex at 10.30 am. Agriculture Minister Ravi Naik, will be the guest of honour. Executive director of SAG, Dr Geeta Nagvenkar, Director of Coaching Bruno Coutinho, Assistant Director Navin Acharya, representatives of State sports associations, coaches graced the occasion where the Goa Tribal Sports Festival logo was unveiled to present the powerful 'Eagle' being the symbol of strength and efficiency - the qualities defining the champion on the field of sports.
