Dear Augusto,
The courage to apologise when wrong is a sign of maturity and humanity. Thanks
for showing it.
You are absolutely right about corecting the sports backrooms in India,
starting with Goa.
Instead of the bureacrats and so-called Sports authorities messing up lives and
spirit of our sports persons .... as they have done with Manipur's MONIKA DEVI
with trumped up dope charges.... we need to have more privately funded
academies like the MITTAL CHAMPIONS TRUST or the SESA FOOTBALL ACADEMY to give
sportmen the direction and support ...infrastructure, opportunity cost
compensation [for giving up a job to continue with sports], physical trainers,
psychologists and motivational trainers, equipment and recurring materials like
sportswear, ammunition, kits besides international exposure.
With persons like Herculano Dourado [a great football player of "Mapusa
Youth" during his college days at SXC] sitting tight with the Goa Hockey
Association and visiting the Goan community in Greece during the Athens
Olympics, hockey is not going to go far, "Chak De India " notwithstanding. It
is no better at the National level with KPS Gill, fortunately getting "carried"
and penalised with a "hit". It is time to hand over the baton after running a
lap. Sports management is a relay race ...not a marathon!
Saina might have done better with a little bit of psychological pep. Sania
Mirza has a genuine injury and did well to withdraw. If she is maimed, the
Indian nation will not look after her. Newspapers have printed stories of Gold
medalists who have begged in India in their old age. We need to have a
disability fund for those in the Amateur circuit. Those in the professional
circuit normally earn enough by playing and endorsements.
I was impressed by Akhil Kumar boxing Cuban style, leaving his face unguarded,
and still winning the bouts.
If Indians can do the Malkhamb, why do we think they cannot do gymnastics?
In 1980, I had the privilege of playing for the University [Univ. of Agri
Sciences- Bangalore] team that played against the Indian Olympic Gold Medal
winning men's hockey team led by Bharatan that went to Moscow. We had a number
of Coorgi boys in the University and in the Indian team, hence the opportunity.
I had a number of Coorgi friends and spent more holidays in Coorg than at home
those years. Though I was not that good a hockey player, I got a chance to play
for a few minutes and do an interview for our magazine, "We will bring back
the gold" read the headline. They did.
The point is tis: the UAS-Hebbal hockey ground is hardly the surface an Olympic
team should have been practicing on. We had a fantastic Shuttle court
... with wooden floor and all... for Prakash Padukone to practice on BUT our
hockey ground did not even have grass, leave alone astro-turf surface on which
the Olympic team should have practiced. One cannot play with a coconut leaf
base [piddo] and then play in an ODI. That the Indian team brought back the
gold was a miracle, nothing less!
Mog asundi.
Miguel
Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:14:47 +0530
From: "augusto pinto" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] Apology: 1980 Olympics Winners - Re: 28 Years After:
An Olympic Gold - the Moira Connection
Message-ID:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Dears
In Goanet Digest, Vol 3, Issue 1008 I wrote the folowing:
Abhinav Bindra has won a gold medal at the Olympics. This is the
first medal that India has got after 28 years.
That means the last Gold medal India won was in the 1980 Moscow
Olympics where we won a Gold in the **women's hockey** competition. In
that team there was the goalkeeper Loretta D'Sousa from Moira, now
Loretta Sreedharan, Customs officer from Vasco.
In doing so, they [journos] could perhaps also focus on the way the Vaglos and
the Dourados have screwed Goa's women and men's hockey respectively.
sports officials do not ever want to give up the reins of power in the Assn.'s
which they control because they control a vote in the National federations.
This means that every now andthen, they will be given a free holiday abroad as
Manager or some such
official. And at times if some funds come from Sports Authority of
India or S.A.Goa, then they are ever ready to misappropriate it.
They must also try to fathom a question which I cannot understand:
most of the sports officials who scam Goan sports come from so-called
'respectable' Goan families. I do not understand how they are prepared
to disgrace their families.
Cheers
Augusto
..........................................................................................................................................
I very sincerely apologize for the mistake that I made.
Actually, it was the MEN hockey team which had won a Gold at the
Moscow Olympics. The Women's team was 4th.
I hope however that the remarks I made about the state of of Goan
hockey are not, in the bargain, forgotten.
In deep shame,
Sincerely,
Augusto
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