PANAJI
As Goa gets ready to host the 37th National Games, the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant sees the national event as a pioneer to developing the sports ecosystem in the coastal State.
The 37th National Games will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 26 evening. Goa’s Katya Coelho will hand over the torch to the Prime Minister. The event will also see the presence of Union Sports Minister Anuragh Thakur along with the Sports Ministers of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Odisha.
Sawant on Tuesday held a meeting to review the preparations for the opening ceremony, which will be attended by 5,000 students and around 7,000 invitees. General public, without invites, will not be allowed to attend the inaugural.
Addressing media persons, Sawant said that such national level events involve long term investment on infrastructure creation and maintenance to ensure that the same is made available to our local athletes for future training.
“We are working on developing a Sports Ecosystem. We are taking the National Games as an opportunity to further train and promote our Goan talent,” he said.
The Chief Minister has urged parents to take this as an opportunity and visit venues along with kids to inculcate sports enthusiasm among them.
For National Games, Goa is divided into six clusters -- Panaji, Campal, Mapusa, Margao, Vasco and Ponda -- each under supervision of the Superintendent of Police (SP). Each cluster will have independent accommodation, catering and transport arrangements.
Speaking about the inaugural event, Sawant said that the road stretch from Verna-Titan circle to Fatorda stadium to Colva Junction will remain shut for traffic during Prime Minister’s movement from 6.00pm onwards for about half an hour and later again at around 8 pm till PM departs.
The inaugural event will see performances by Bollywood singer Sukhwinder Singh and Goa’s own Hema Sardesai apart from other cultural events and Drone show.
“Opening ceremony is not open to the general public. Only invitees will be allowed. If anyone is interested in attending the event, then he or she should contact their MLAs or Sports Department who will make available the invitation cards, which is mandatory for entry,” he said. The government has declared half-day working for its offices located in Margao.
A special dedicated team of doctors, including experts like Neurosurgeon, is being formed at GMC to handle any emergencies during National game events.
