Photo Credits: The Goan
PANAJI
2024 had both its highs and lows for Goan sports. From 12-year-old Ethan Vaz becoming one of the youngest International Masters (IM) to shuttler Tanisha Crasto being the only Goan player to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games to Goa’s football team finishing runners-up at the Santosh Trophy to cricket team qualifying for the Ranji Elite group to Goa’s young athletes winning multiple medals in swimming and table tennis at the national level, Goan sportspersons made their mark in multiple disciplines in 2024.
Let’s look back as to how Goa fared in sports in 2024.
Football
Under Mohamed Ali’s captaincy, Goa narrowly missed out being crowned Santosh Trophy champions for the sixth time as they went down fighting 1-0 to Services in the finals earlier this year. However, 2024-25 season proved to be a disaster as Goa exited in the group stage itself.
In Indian Super League (ISL), FC Goa made yet another semi-final appearance during 2023-24 season. It was the seventh semi-final appearance for the Gaurs in 10 seasons, a record for any team in ISL history. But, they could not progress beyond that. During current season, the Gaurs are lying at third position in points table at half-way mark.
In I-League, Churchill Brothers finished at a poor seventh place during 2023-24 season. During current season, however, the ‘Red Machines’ is on top of the points table after six games. The year also marked the return of five-time I-League champions Dempo Sports Club to the league after a gap of nine years. Dempos are currently lying third in the points table after six games.
Cricket
After being relegated to the Plate division, Goa did extremely well by winning all their five matches in their Ranji Plate group and thereby topping the points table with 33 points. This meant that Goa qualified for Ranji Elite Group for next season. The Goan side defeated Manipur, Sikkim, Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh enroute to topping their group.
Snehal Kauthankar who top-scored for Goa with 684 runs was undoubtedly the star performer. His classic knocks of 250 against Mizoram at Ahmedabad which was followed by 314 not out against Arunachal Pradesh at Porvorim were the highlights for Goa. His knock against Arunachal was the highest individual score by a Goan player in first-class cricket. In fact, Kauthankar and Kashyap Bakhale recorded the highest partnership in Ranji with their unbroken 606 run-stand during that match against Arunachal Pradesh.
Badminton
Tanisha Crasto along with her partner Ashwini Ponnappa successfully defended the women’s doubles title at Guwahati Masters, a BWF Tour Super 100 tournament. Tanisha even won a silver medal in the mixed doubles category at the Syed Modi Super 300 International Tournament along with her partner Dhruv Kapila.
The Goan girl was also part of the gold-medal winning Indian squad at the 2024 Badminton Asia Team Championship at Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.
2024 also marked the year wherein Tanisha reached her highest career ranking of World No. 13 along with her partner Ashwini Ponappa in women’s doubles category.
Chess
India got its first International Master (IM) in 2024 in the form of Ethan Vaz. The 12-year-Goan boy is currently one of the youngest IMs.
Ethan won gold medal in the under-16 (Sub-Junior) Open category at the Commonwealth Chess Championships 2024 held in Sri Lanka, besides a silver medal at the 49th National Sub-Junior (Under-15) Chess Championship 2024 held in Hosur, Tamil Nadu and a podium finish at National Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships 2024 (Seniors), at Nashik, Maharashtra.
IM Ameya Audi bagged a podium finish at the Odisha GM Open 2024 held in Bhubaneswar that witnessed participation from 182 players, including 81 titled participants representing 20 countries.
Swimming
Goa’s young swimmers had a good year as they won multiple medals at the national level in 2024. Purvi Naik won 4 medals (1 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze) at the Sub-Junior Nationals held in Bhubaneshwar, Aarohi Borde bagged 2 medals (1 gold and 1 silver) at the National School Games held in Rajkot, Saksham Naik won 2 medals (2 silver) at the Kendriya Vidyalaya Nationals held in New Delhi and Aryan Patil bagged a silver medal at the National School Games held in New Delhi earlier this year.
Table tennis
Chandan Caro, a student of Bhatikar Model High School, Margao, and seeded 14th All India in U-13 boys singles category won a gold medal in the Ultimate National Ranking Table Tennis Tournament held at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
Another Goan lad Yug Prabhu, clinched a bronze medal in the U-11 boys singles category at the prestigious UTT National Ranking Tournament held at Navelim.
Olympics
21-year-old Tanisha Crasto was the only Goan player among 117 Indian athletes to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. The Goan shuttler along with her partner Ashwini Ponnappa participated in the women's doubles event in badminton. Thus, she became the 24th 'Goan' player to represent India at the Olympic Games.
The last time, a ‘Goan’ had participated at the Olympics was the legendary Leander Paes from Assolna. In fact, Paes represented the country in a record seven Olympics from 1992 till 2016 and even won a historic ‘bronze’ medal in tennis at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Khelo India Youth Games
Arif Khan, a class 8 student of Dattaram Matrawadi High School, Mapusa, won a bronze medal in the traditional Yogasana sports event at the 6th Khelo India Youth Games held in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was the only medal Goa won during the Games.
