Goa cagers protest against inclusion of GBA officials in Lusofonia Games June 4, 2013
TEAM HERALD spo...@herald-goa.com For the first time in the State, sporstpersons were forced to move off the court, as over 80 basketball enthusiasts including present and past players, organizers and supporters across the state staged a peaceful protest outside the SAG office at Patto, here, on Wednesday morning demanding the exclusion of Goa Basketball Association (GBA) president, C F Vaz and GBA secretary, Shekar Jain from the planning and organisation of basketball events as suggested by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) CEO, Roopam Harish Sharma to the organisers of 3rd Lusofonia Games in an e-mail on May 29. As a sequel to the protest, the meeting of Competitions Managers and Technical Delegates of the Lusofonia Games scheduled for this morning at SAG office, here, wherein both Vaz and Jain were invited by Games adviser Sacheti was cancelled/postponed. Neither Vaz nor Shekar also turned up, although they were invited by adviser Sacheti. The protestors alleged that the GBA president and secretary have been illegally and unconstitutionally functioning given the fact their term had already expired long back and that no new enrolment of members had taken place with the result that no elections were conducted over a period of 15 years. “The term of GBA president, Vaz and secretary, Shekhar has already expired long ago and the duo have not conducted fresh elections over a decade. The GBA has been declared as an unregistered society under the Societies Registration Act 1860 and now the BFI has asked the organisers of Lusofonia Games to include the twosome in the planning and organisation of basketball events which is absolutely unfair,” said Goa Athletic Association, secretary, Paresh Kamat, a basketball player in his school days. “The GBA has been selecting teams to represent Goa in an arbitrary and non-transparent manner, which has severely affected Goa’s performance at the national level. We have asked Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar and Sports Minister, Ramesh Tawadkar to wind up the GBA and appoint an ad-hoc committee to look after basketball in Lusofonia Games,” pointed out Kamat. “As far as the Goa Olympic Association (GOA) is concerned, there is no basketball association in the state. For the Lusofonia Games, they have pooled in a team with support from SAG after seeking permission from Indian Olympic Association,” stated Akash Madgaonkar, a probable for the Goa basketball team. “This committee has been responsible for coaching the probables. It will also look after the organizational matters concerning the championship. The camps are going on for the past six months with the men’s team having participated in an all-India tournament outside Goa,” added Akash. “Basketball is virtually dead in Goa for the past 15 years. Both Vaz and Jain are functioning in an unconstitutional manner with the help of some BFI officials. They do not have the mandate of the affiliated units or players,” stressed sports promoter, Sandeep Heble. Later, a delegation led by Heble met SAG’s executive director, Sandeep Jacques to find out if the SAG would allow Vaz and Jain to be part of the Lusofonia Organizing committee. Jacques has ensured that he will look into the matter and try to resolve the issue as soon as possible. “This matter has come to my notice just today and as far as the Lusofonia Games is concerned, we will work with the CEO and Government to resolve this matter at the earliest,” assured Jacques. It may be recalled that it was former SAG’s executive director, Elvis Gomes, who knowing what was the actual situation concerning the association, had set up a committee to look after the basketball affairs for Lusofonia Games since the association was found to be dormant, and hence the teams selections were carried out and coaching camps started after setting up a committee. Later, the protestors marched to the office of the Commissionner of Customs and Central Excise where Shekar works as a Superintendent of Central Excise. Heble told that Assistant Commissioner, Loretta Shreedharan had informed the delegation that a show cause notice had already been issued to Shekar for continuing as the secretary of the GBA despite the expiry of his tenure of four years which is in violation of the circular issued by Govt of India’s Sports Ministry. "Shekhar is yet to reply to the notice," she informed. Later, at a press conference, Akash stated that the news about the involvement of the two GBA officials had demoralized the entire squad. “We were promised by GBA that a new committee would be installed on two occasions, first in 2003, during the junior nationals in Panjim and then in 2012, at the sub-junior nationals at Verna, but we have been kept in the dark. We urge the BFI and the Government to derecognize the GBA and come up with a long term solution,” voiced Akash. Heble stated that the issue of non-functioning of the association was raised in the Assembly by Rohan Khaunte, MLA. “We are now urging our Chief Minister to intervene in the matter at the earliest,” informed Heble. Former player Atmaram Desai felt that an alternate association should be set up since the present GBA has not been functioning and is not recognized by both SAG as well as GOA. Fr Ralino De Souza, director, Don Bosco Oratory, Panjim criticized the selection process of the GBA. He said, “players selected by the GBA to represent Goa in various age-group Nationals could not make it to even to their respective school teams and wondered as to how this was so.” Adv Joseph Vaz, director, YMCA said he had organized basketball tourneys in the past but received absolutely no support from the GBA. Santosh Kenkre, vice-chariman, EDC appealed to Vaz and Shekar to gracefully step down and let younger generation take over the control of the game in Goa. Rohan Khaunte, MLA, Rajesh Counto, secretary, Panjim Gymkhana were among those present. The dejected players and others alike are hoping to meet with Chief Minister in the next three days so that the basketball imbroglio is sorted out. What they are unaware is that C F Vaz is president for life according to the GBA constitution in force and as such he feels he is unshakable and untouchable. The same is not the case with Shekar. Source: http://www.oheraldo.in/News/Sports/Goa-cagers-protest-against-inclusion-of-GBA-officials-in-Lusofonia-Games/75275.html