PANAJI: An institution in himself, a synonym for boxing in Goa – Lenny da Gama has declared his plans to start a boxing trust (foundation) to finetune the preparations of boxers from the state with a calibre to win national medals.
On the sidelines of the felicitation ceremony following his inspirational appointment and performance as the Evaluater/Observer for judges and referees at Tokyo 2020 boxing competition, Lenny revealed his immediate goal to www.livenewsgoa.com.
With Dempo Group chairman Shrinivas Dempo pledging support to Goa Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) and to Lenny individually, Lenny admitted the feeling of a huge load going off his shoulders.
“I myself want to start a boxing foundation. I am going to train in Saligao (North Goa) and I will take youth and senior boxers, who are already experienced so that I can brush them up and we can prepare them for national championships. We intend to host the Federation Cup very soon. That will be another motivation for them. If they want to compete at the Fed Cup, they will have to come up to that level because all top boxers from India will be there,” said Lenny.
Earlier, chief guest Shrinivas Dempo announced Rs 1 lakh as token of appreciation for Lenny’s work while the hosts of the function GABA led by Porvorim MLA Rohan Khaunte presented a cheque of Rs 25,000 to its vice-president Lenny. Sports Authority of Goa executive director, VM Prabhudesai announced that the government will also felicitate Lenny at a date to be announced soon.
Lenny thanked the Dempo Group and GABA and committed half of the amount for development of boxing in the state and 25 per cent for the first gold medallist at the future nationals.
With more boxing facilities to start soon, Lenny has high hopes for the future of the sport across Goa.
“I have great hopes for boxing future in Goa now because South Goa District is activated and we are immediately opening centre at Sada (Vasco), where in the past we had Box&Jab club whose boxers used to win medals at the nationals. Then we are opening a centre at Fatorda where DSYA is alloting us a place. Ponda and Quepem are also on the cards,” added Lenny, who has worked right from the scratch over 50 years to develop boxing culture in Goa.
All dignitaries had one common factor to emphasise on and that was Lenny’s “passion.” Dempo, who have been one of the most powerful families to support and nurture football in India, used an expression ‘foolishly passionate’ to describe the bond with the sport without ever considering return on the spend. And, he hailed Lenny for his similar commitment to boxing without putting monetary connect onto it. He pointed out that the youngsters who weigh everything with respect to monetary consideration, need to learn a lot from personalities like Lenny and also urged Lenny to mentor future leaders.
Dempo, who has supported chess, tennis, swimming, squash apart from football, table tennis and cricket; also announced boxing as a new sport to be embraced for ‘Goodwill Ambassador’ role for the top pugilist.
Many might not be aware of the specifics of the role Lenny played at Tokyo 2020. And for their benefit, the 67-year-old described his IOC taskforce assignment, saying: “We were five of us (from the world) as Evaluater/Observers. We used to rotate between judging, refereeing and observing. Once we used to be judge evaluater, next time referee evaluater and then an observer. If an Asian boxer was boxing, an Asian wouldn’t be nominated on the task. Our job was extremely intricate. Every morning, we reviewed each and every bout. We were very very sharp and if we found anybody below par, or manipulating or doubted to be manipulative; we had to talk to them and if found manipulating, we sent them back,” explained Lenny, who hailed the overall Games as excellent and memorable despite all the challenges while also acknowledging the learnings especially in the organisation due to accurate job particularly by volunteers.
