New Delhi: The officials at the helm of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) have made their mind to take the 2019 NationaL Games out of Goa. IOA officials are convinced that the Goa government doesn't have the "will or commitment" to host the National Games.
It has been four years now since the last edition of National Games has been hosted by Kerala. In this period, the Goa government has failed to lay out a necessary infrastructure in place for India's biggest multi-discipline event. Expressing their inability to host the event in 2019, the Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had requested IOA to reschedule the Games in 2020.
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However, IOA is not in a position to postpone the Games as it will halt the preparation of India's 2020 Tokyo Olympics bound athletes.
IOA is determined to host National Games 'elsewhere'
In the aftermath of this development, IOA secretary general Rajeev Mehta is now determined to host the Games in November this year. To make that to happen he is ready to shift the Games to "elsewhere".
“What’s happening (in Goa) is not right. So many postponements are not good for us. We will now call for an IOA executive board meeting and take a tough stand. We will shift the Games elsewhere,” IOA secretary general Mehta quoted as saying by media.
Goa Olympic Association (GOA) secretary Gurudutta Bhakta is the lone member from the state in the IOA executive board. He has been fighting the lone battle to safeguard the interest of Goa. Hence, he refused to sign the documents at IOA's last meeting on July 22 when the national governing body of the Olympic sports asked Goa to host the Games between November 1-16.
“We can still manage (to save the National Games), provided I get the political will and backing from the government. We can host the Games after the Olympics,” said Bhakta.
Rs 97.80 crore was allotted to Goa for the infrastructure development
The Goa government has expressed its willingness to host the Games in November 2020 which is three months after the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
The 36th National Games was originally scheduled in 2018. However, the Goa government kept IOA waiting and now found ignorant about the Games. Now. it is quite clear that the state government doesn't have any clear roadmap for the event in place.
The prevailing situation forced IOA to reschedule 37th National Games, which was originally scheduled in 2019, in 2021 in Chattisgarh.
Irked by the situation IOA is now determined to stop further delay.
“I think it’s not possible for the Goa government to host the National Games. That’s what I feel. They have promised (us) one thing and when they go to Goa, they say something else. It’s not good for IOA because these Games were allotted in 2011," Mehta said.
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The Indian government allotted Rs 97.80 crore to Goa for the infrastructure development for the National Games.
So, now the question is what the Goa government was doing with the money allotted to them.
At the same time, it will be interesting to see which Indian state shows interest to host the mega event in short notice.
