The Technical Delegates and Director of Competitions for the 37th National Games, scheduled to be held later this year, arrived in Goa to oversee the Games preparations. The visits are being coordinated by the Indian Olympic Association GTCC, Office of the Minister for Sports & Sports Authority of Goa. On April 8 and 9, the delegation inspected the venues and preparations in view of the state’s readiness to host the Games.
The 3-day programme is being carried out under the able guidance of the Secretary Sports, Swetica Sachan (IAS), Executive Director & Joint CEO Dr. Geeta Nagvenkar (GCS), and IOA GTCC Chairman Amitabh Sharma. Dr. Sandeep Martin Warlikar (Nodal Officer from Sports Minister’s Office) coordinated the entire visit with SAG Technical Section and National Games Cell, along with Navin Acharya (Nodal Officer SAG) and Dr. Vivek Pawar (Nodal Officer DSYA). Sandeep Heble and Rajendra Godinho ( Nodal Officers – GOA) have been accompanying the Technical Teams during the visits.
On April 8 and 9, the delegation inspected the venues for Yachting at Hawaii beach, Hockey at Peddem Stadium, and Golf at Lalit Hotel Canacona. While venues for Yachting and Hockey have been finalised, the reports on Golf are awaited. Multiple venues were also inspected for Rowing, Canoeing, and Kayaking such as Old Goa Jetty, Chapora River, and Borim River, and the Technical Team designated by the Federations will finalise the ideal venue suited to host these sports disciplines.
During the inspections, a few areas of concern were identified that require attention and compliance. The Sports Authority of Goa Technical Team assured that they will take necessary actions to comply with the identified areas of concern.
Siddharth Satardekar (Yachting), Vikram Singh (Hockey), Ismail Baig and Col. C.P. Singh Deo (Rowing), Bilquis Mir (Slalom) and Ramakrishna Pulli (Sprint) in Canoeing & Kayaking and Tushar Malhotra (Golf) represented the Federations. Rainer Dias and Katya Coelho (Yachting), Farrel Furtado and Benny Viegas (Hockey), Deepak Mandrekar and Hemang Doshi (Canoeing and Kayaking) were among those who accompanied the delegation on behalf of their State Sports Associations during the visit. Equipment Discussions and Conclusive Discussions were held following the venue visits.
On April 10, there will be venue inspections in Athletics at Bambolim and Peddem and Modern Pentathlon at multiple venues. While B.E Stanley Jones will represent Athletics Federation, Vittal Shirgaonkar has been designated to represent the Modern Pentathlon Federation.
The inspection visit has been successful, and the Technical Delegates and Director of Competitions have expressed their satisfaction with the preparations made by Goa. The Government of Goa, the Sports Authority of Goa and the Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs remain committed to making the 37th National Games a grand success, stated a press release.
