MARGAO
Sports Authority of Goa (SAG) had set lofty goals for the State’s sportspersons, associations and clubs when it was formed in 1998. The vision was to bring about excellence in sports at State, National and International level in keeping with the Sports Policy of the Government of Goa.
But one area where SAG has failed to keep pace in terms of drawing up plans and implementing them is on technological front when it comes to uploading information on their website.
Consider the registered sports associations that receive annual grants and regularly send teams to national championships. The records for these associations are outdated, as some individuals listed as presidents or secretaries no longer hold those positions.
Of the 37 sports associations listed on SAG website, some office bearers have been voted out of office or have had to step down due to violations related to the Sports Code.
One of them happens to be the former Chief Minister of Goa Churchill Alemao, who lost his court case over the Sports Code regulations and had to quit the Goa Football Association president post. The SAG website still shows Alemao as the President of GFA.
Another person whose name still figures on the list is that of Prakash Kamat as secretary of Goa Athletics Association. Kamat died in March this year. Shaindra Naik is now the General Secretary of the Association.
Sources said that most of the data of sports associations featured on the website is outdated.
If GFA and GAA update on SAG is outdated the Goa Handball Association has a new committee in place and so is the case with Goa State Tennis Association. The Goa Judo Association also shows Gurudutt Bhakta, as president.
Bhakta, who is also the General Secretary of the Goa Olympic Association has recently relinquished charge from the President post with the new committee taking charge.
Incidentally, three sports associations have no names of officials mentioned against their names, Goa Carrom Association, Goa Hockey Association and Goa Volleyball Association.
Sources informed that 37 sports associations is not the right count for the registered associations, as displayed on the SAG website. A number of sports associations have been registered in recent years and taken grants from the governments.
In the past, SAG website displayed old and outdated records of dead and retired SAG coaches which The Goan had reported and the issue of outdated data was also raised by Velim MLA Cruz Silva in the assembly session citing The Goan report.
Following that, the data for retired and deceased coaches was removed, and an announcement was made stating that coach information would be updated soon. However, two months later, the information still has not been updated.
