PANAJI
At the recently held 38th National Games in Uttarakhand, Goa won 10 medals (2 gold, 4 silver and 4 bronze) to finish at 27th position in the medal tally. Goa’s performance was in stark contrast of the 92 medals (27 gold, 27 silver and 38 bronze), the state had won during 2023 Goa National Games, wherein it had finished ninth overall in the medal tally.
At a panel discussion on a local channel involving top experts in sports administration from Goa, it was concluded that if Goan sports have to improve, then the state badly needs a ‘Centre of Excellence’, similar on the lines of a regional academy.
"In Goa, we need to have a dedicated Centre for Excellence, a residential academy, wherein you selectively train the best of the best, not just restricted to Goan athletes. No doubt, we have Khelo India Centre of Excellence for badminton, table-tennis and swimming. But, that is only for grass-root level. We need a bigger Centre of Excellence exclusively for martial arts sports like Taekwondo, Wushu, Judo where Goa has lot of potential and have won medals at the nationals,” said, Sandeep Heble, Chef-de-Mission of the Goan contingent during 2023 Goa National Games.
“If we have a dedicated Centre of Excellence, only the top trainees will be there. The coach will be able to train only that batch of top players having almost the same skill level. After all, winning medals requires greater dedication, greater commitment, greater level of training and top-class coaches, “ Sandeep said.
Heble gave the examples of Wesley do Rosario (table tennis) who moved to Haryana for specialized training. The moment he shifted to Haryana, Wesley’s performance improved drastically because he did not have the same quality players to train with in Goa nor good coaches.
Similarly, when Tanisha Crasto, Anura Prabhudesai and Anuskha Kuvelkar (badminton), moved out of Goa either at Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad or Prakash Padukone Academy in Bangalore; their skill level improved because they had better players to train with and much better coaches to train them.
Similar, is the case of swimmers Talasha Prabhu, Shrungi Bandekar and Sanjana Prabhugaonkar who moved outside the state for better training and won medals at the nationals.
Heble also highlighted an important point wherein Goan parents object if outstation athletes who train at the Khelo India Centre are allowed to represent Goa.
“If that is the mentality, how can the standard of Goan players improve? You have to train and compete with the best if one needs to improve. Otherwise, how will your standard rise. Do not be happy only with your state-level trophy. Try to go one step higher. Try to win medals at the nationals,” he stressed.
Heble also mentioned that there are other reasons for Goa not performing well as compared to bigger states.
“Our talent pool is less. We are a smaller state with only 2 districts and 15 lakhs people. We have to compete with states which have 30 or 40 districts and their population is also in crores", he said.
Sandeep also raised the point that all sports cannot be treated at the same level and hence cannot be equated as same. In sports, in which Goa has won medals at the nationals or has potential to win medals, should be given higher priority. He also said that you cannot compare Olympic sports with that of indigenous sports.
Gurudatta Bhakta, secretary, Goa Olympic Association said, "Only blaming sports associations for non-performance is not fair. Even SAG has to take responsibility. There is shortage of SAG coaches in several disciplines. Some Olympic-level sports do not have a single SAG coach. Without a coach, no athlete can rise to a certain level.”
Sports Authority of Goa (SAG) employs nearly 150 coaches across 31 sporting disciplines. But, SAG coach ratio to disciplines is highly skewed. Some Olympic sports in Goa with permanent recognition for associations have just one coach or nobody at all.
Bhakta also stressed the need to have a monitoring system for SAG coaches wherein their performance is evaluated on a regular basis based on the number of national medal winning athletes they have produced.
Nisha Madgavakar, former national medal winning swimmer from Goa said, “The swimming standard in Goa has gone down. One of the reasons of this is that the swimming pools at Campal and Fatorda were closed for nearly three-four years for repairs. All the kids were moved to Mapusa for training. Imagine the amount of time that was involved in travelling to Mapusa twice a day. Diving pool has been shut down for more than four years now. In fact, diving is dead in Goa, a sport in which Goa has won lots of national medals in the past.”
Nisha also mentioned that funds for training camps or grant from government must be released well in advance so that they can plan properly.
The panel concluded that the Sports Ministry, SAG and the various sports associations must come together and form a common plan to take Goan sports forward. After all, all of them are part of the same sports eco-system in Goa. Currently, they are working independently in an adhoc manner. If all three of them are on one page, they can do wonders for sports in Goa, they concluded.
