PONDA: Tiswadi, Canacona and Quepem proved their might on the opening day of the 8th State-level Tribal Sports Festival organised by Sports Authority of Goa at Ponda sports complex and Karai ground, Shiroda. Tiswadi, Canacona and Quepem made it to the semi-finals in men’s volleyball and kabaddi.
Tiswadi beat Dharbandora 2-0, Canacona defeated Sattari 2-1, Quepem beat Ponda 2-0 while Salcete defeated Bicholim 2-0 in men’s volleyball.
Tiswadi, Ponda, Canacona and Quepem moved into the semi-finals of men’s kabaddi competition. Tiswadi got the better of Bicholim 30-26, Ponda beat Pernem 31-12, Canacona beat Salcete 39-23, Quepem thrashed Dharbandora 48-14
In tug-of-war first round, Quepem beat Dharbandora 3-0, Ponda beat Sanguem 3-0, Mormugoa beat Sattari 3-0, Canacona beat Bicholim 3-0.
Sanguem and Bicholim entered the final of the Lagori competition. Sanguem beat Tiswadi 2-0 while Bicholim defeated Mormugoa 2-1 in the semi-finals. In Langdi, Quepem beat Canacona, Salcete beat Tiswadi, Bardez beat Bicholim in some of the exciting duels.
In the women’s volleyball event, Mormugoa beat Ponda 2-1 while Canacona defeated Salcete in straight sets (2-0) to make it to the final, which will be played on Friday at 3pm.
In women’s kabaddi – Salcete, Sanguem, Bicholim and Quepem entered the semi-finals. Salcete beat Canacona 22-20, Sanguem beat Tiswadi 28-6, Bicholim beat Pernem 34-10, Quepem beat Ponda 37-25. In kho-kho – Quepem, Sanguem, Canacona and Salcete made it to the semi-finals of the men’s and women’s events.
The tennis ball cricket competition is being played at Karai – Shiroda with the first day witnessing exciting action in the league-format. Some of the best action came in the girls matches as Canacona beat Dharbandora by 49 runs, Bicholim beat Pernem by 54 runs; while in boys section, Canacona beat Sanguem by 5 wickets, Quepem beat Mormugoa by 39 runs.
Earlier, Sports Minister Govind Gaude and Agriculture Minister Ravi Naik graced the inaugural ceremony. MDirector of Sports and Youth Affairs, Rohit Kadam and SAG Executive Director, Dr Geeta Nagvenkar was also present.
Goa’s top seven sports stars from tribal community, were felicitated 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).
The second and final day will begin with semi-finals action at 9.30 am at Ponda sports complex. At Karai ground, Shiroda, the tennis ball cricket event will progress into the knock-out phase, beginning at 9am.
