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Planning to get married in Goa? www.weddingsetcgoa.com Making your 'dream wedding' possible ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Can Goa be a Sporting Superpower? Goa has a vast potential to be a sporting “Superpower”. The immediate goal must be to excel at the National Arena, with long term ‘International’ targets. In order to achieve these goals and targets, the Government of Goa in particular and Goans in general must give a priority to the promotion of games and sports in schools. Parents must encourage their children to take up Sporting disciplines. Sports must be promoted as a lucrative Career option. Corporate houses must be roped in to bring in the money. If the State shows the will and the intent, other Sports too can become viable career options like cricket and Football. Here are a few other measures that need to be initiated to achieve the lofty goals: 1. The infrastructure for sports in Goa pales in comparison when you compare it with the infrastructure of other places such as Hyderabad, Punjab, Maharashtra, Gujarat, etc. The efforts to develop sports have so far been confined to urban areas, and the rural areas have, in the process, been neglected. Such disparities must end. 2. The Government has been found to be lacking in promoting sports in the State. The percentage of the people of Goa who actually play some sport or the other is very low. Various coaching and training schemes and incentives are being provided by both the State and the Central Government, but sadly these schemes do not percolate down to the masses. 3. Sports and physical education must be made an integral part of the curriculum; as a regular subject in schools and other similar educational institutions. Sports must be promoted as a lucrative Career option. Adequate incentives must be provided to those who excel in sports, so that more and more talented youngsters get attracted to this field. The Government needs to initiate steps to establish institutions such as sports universities, colleges, schools and hostels which lay special emphasis on identifying, nurturing and developing sports talent to its full potential, largely on the lines of its own sporting policy proposals. 4. We also need more “Non-Governmental Organizations to get involved in Sports and its promotion. We need more active clubs who will work hand-in-hand with Government bodies like the Sports Authority of Goa (SAG) to organize more Tournaments, Coaching Camps, Professional Leagues, etc. 5. The mass-media is focusing sadly only on cricket and Football. But what about other sports? Why are they giving it step-motherly treatment? If we need to succeed in spreading and sustaining sports consciousness in all the nooks and corners of the State, then the mass-media has a big role to play. The State must provide incentives to the mass-media who give a good coverage to Sports. 6. The Sports Ministry must take a keener interest to make our Sports Associations more professional. The “Do-or-Die” culture must be brought in; the “Susegad” attitude needs to be weeded out. We need more transparency in our Associations. With measures like these, Goa can surely be one of the top “Sporting States” in the Country. While it is true that our achievements in sports, barring Football, have been negligible, it is also true that there is no dearth of talent in our State. Bhakti Kulkarni, Ivana Furtado, Natasha Palha, Talasha Prabhu are all young talented children. If a healthy atmosphere is created, if talent is spotted and nurtured, we can achieve a lot. With the National games in sight, the Sports Ministry needs to work on a war footing, so that Goa occupies one of the top slots at the National Games. Cheers, Sandeep