PANAJI: Amateur Archery Association Goa is hoping to get a big boost to their endeavour of developing the sport of archery in the state of Goa in future, after Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant pledged support to the national championships to be organised by AAAG hence forth.
On the opening day of the recently concluded 42nd NTPC Junior National Archery Championships at Campal, CM Sawant had said: ” Although the government did not help the Amateur Archery Association Goa much this time, the government will support the national championships organised by them in future.”
Director of Sports & Youth Affairs, Ajay Gaude hailed the 9-day national archery championship as one of the finest organisation by any state sports association, during his address at the Closing ceremony before revealing that the chief minister has already put his words into practice by giving them instructions to support AAAG.
“CM Dr Pramod Sawant has already told the association and even given instructions to us that whatever support you (Amateur Archery Association Goa) need to promote archery in Goa right from infrastructure to other areas, we shall be giving it to you. In the coming days, we will get to see the Senior National Championship also happening in Goa,” said Ajay Gaude.
AAAG’s thorough preparations and superb organisation skills seem to have been rewarded and organising secretary Chetan Kavlekar, finally had a smile on his face after the nine-day championships concluded. “With CM Dr Pramod Sawant promising all help, Goa will get to see archery of a very high quality as we want to organise various events like National Ranking Tournaments, Beach Archery and Indoor Archery Championships. We want to have a dedicated training facility here itself at the Sports Authority of Goa ground, Campal. And it would be a great idea to host the Archery event of the National Games here in the capital city itself rather than in Margao. With this high-quality decor and river-side ambience, the venue looks wonderful,” he told www.livenewsgoa.com.
Cumbarjua MLA and Organising Chairman, Rajesh Faldessai expressed happiness at massive participation witnessed at the archery nationals. “We are proud to say that Goa saw one of the best-ever participation in terms of the number of states/UTs/Sports Boards going up to 34. In all around 950 archers, officials, parents; came to Goa and were pleased with every aspect of the visit to the state.
“The team spirit and bonding of the archery stakeholders as well as the volunteers, service-providers was impeccable. The unity of the organising team defines the end result of any event,” added the first-time MLA Faldessai.
AAAG President Kiran Kandolkar was very confident about the result, right from the moment the Junior Nationals were allotted to Goa. “We have seen archery develop in the state and also the people in the sport grow in stature. We can pull off any national and even international event successfuly. You saw the example here, didn’t the Campal ground look like an international venue? Yes it did!,” asserted Kandolkar, who is in the second term of his presidentship.
Archery Association of India secretary-general Pramod Chandurkar praised AAAG over conducting the junior nationals successfully. “This is not just a national championship, this is a sports tourism event. Hence, with maximum people wanting to come to Goa, we are looking to give Goa a big event as there are natural beaches here. And world beach archery event could be alloted to Goa,” said Chandurkar.
