Lusofonia Games to be held in Goa
Goa is gearing up to host an
international sporting event. The games are scheduled for 2013. The new
government in Goa has put things on a fast forward mode to meet deadlines.
Lusofonia Games (Lusofony Games)
is a multinational sporting event that brings together many nations with
something in common. It brings together athletes of the Lusofone (Portuguese
speaking) countries or those places that have a common past with Portugal.
The founding members of the games are Angola, Brazil,
Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Macau, Mozambique, Portugal and São Tomé
and Príncipe. India along with Equatorial Guinea and Sri Lanka are associate
members. The event is conceptualised on the lines of the Commonwealth Games.
In 2009, Goa was appointed hosts
for the 2013 edition. The high ranking delegation of sports administrators of
the state which was led by the then sports minister Manohar (Babu) Azgaonkar
and which included the chief secretary, government secretary (sports) the
director of sports, chief of the Goa Olympic Association and the executive
director of the Sports Authority of Goa stamped their approval on Goa being the
next host of this international sporting event.
The national games were to be
held in Goa in 2011. Banking on the assumption that infrastructure would be up
for this event, the commitment for the Lusofonia Games was made. However, the
Kerala edition of the national games has still not been held. Thus the Goa
event has been postponed indefinitely. Thus the infrastructure at Goa was also
not taken up on with any urgency. This has caused a few concerns about the hosting of the
international event, Lusofonia Games in 2013.
In March 2012, a new BJP-led
government has taken over the reins of governing Goa. The chief minister
Manohar Parrikar has taken some timely decisions to ensure that the commitment to
host the games will be honoured. The first step was to appointment one of the
most efficient officers of the Goa administration, Elvis Gomes, as the
executive director of the Sports Authority of Goa (SAG) which is the nodal
agency appointed by the government to coordinate the hosting of the games.
Elvis Gomes seems very
confident
about hosting the games despite having to almost start building the
infrastructure from scratch. “There are so many solutions available
today
that it is possible to get the infrastructure ready in the specified
time,” he
says. For a start ACOLOP (Associação
dos Comités Olímpicos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa), which is
the ssociation of the Portuguese
speaking Olympic committees, has decided to scale down the event to
include only nine disciplines. These include soccer, volleyball, beach
volleyball, basketball, athletics, taekwondo, judo and the new introduction in wushu. Futesal initially did not find a place in the
line-up. But it may get included because of its popularity.
“Our deadline to complete all work and prepare the infrastructure in all
respects is July 7, 2013. This is the day when ACOLOP will meet in Lisbon and
we are required to present our status report on our preparedness,” reveals
Elvis. At this meeting it will be decided if the games will go ahead at Goa or
not. Goa has to show adequate preparedness by this date.
Some urgent steps have been taken to ensure that this deadline is met. First
off, a separate technical cell of engineering has been constituted and a
separate games secretariat to be called Lusofonia Games Secretariat is to be
established soon. Two sites have been
finailised to host the athletics and indoor events. One is at Bambolim and the other is at Pedem. Babbolim will probably
be finalised as the games track while the Pedem structure will be the practice
track. This decision is influenced by post-games usage of the facility. Goa
University being very close to the site at Bambolim, it is most viable to have
the regular track there as it can be used by the University in the future.
The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium at Fatorda is going to undergo a major face-lift. A budget of around 82 crore
rupees,which may need to be further reviesed, has been set aside for this major renovation.
The role of the SAG in these games is manifold and crucial. As Elvis
explains: “Our role is to facilitate the appointment of committees for the
event. There will be working committees and the games organizing committee. We
will provide them with logistic support on behalf of the government, to
organize the games.”
The question of the games happening in Goa eventually now seems to be a
foregone conclusion with Elvis reiterating, “The games will happen. We can’t
look back because this is an international commitment.” The government is
obliged to honour this commitment despite the change in government.
“With the past experience of the chief minster Manohar Parrikar with
regards to development, especially with structures like the Inox multiplex and the
crucial Patto Bridge in the capital, all done in six months, it is a real
possibility that this will happen. ACOLOP has also pinned their hopes entirely
on the chief minster,” states Elvis, who is also the senior vice-president of
the Goa Football Associaion (GFA). He also adds, “With the responsibility of
the games entrusted to me by the chief minister, I cannot let him down!”
Some great sporting personalities are expected to be part of this
extravaganza. Brazil and Portugal will be the main attractions as also some
superstars of the sporting world. Goa could even see the likes of Ronaldo on
the soccer field. Everyone in Goa is awaiting the event with bated breath.
