To, The Executive Director Elvis Gomes, Sports Authority of Goa, Campal, Panaji-Goa 20-06-2012
Sub: Complaint against Goa Table Tennis Association for depriving children participating in State level Tournaments from availing Sports Policy marks. Dear Sir, Warm Greetings! This letter is a complaint against Goa Table Tennis Association (GTTA) which is depriving children participating in State level Tournaments from availing Sports Policy marks. The State Government a few years back had taken a decision to award Sports Policy marks ranging from 5 marks for Taluka level to 40 marks for International level with 15 marks to be awarded for participation at the State level. The Policy was framed mainly to encourage more and more children to participate in sports and to create an ambience in which fresh talent, skill and excellence could surface and flourish. Appropriate circulars were issued to all Sports Associations. For reasons best known to him, Mr. Vero Nunes, President of Goa Table Tennis Association, during an Annual General Meeting held a couple of years back, strangely decided to limit the number of participants who could avail of the Sports participation marks even though the Sports Policy was quite clear that participation marks must be awarded to all participants. Though several members objected, Mr. Nunes in an extremely autocratic and dictatorial manner and without trying to understand the legal implications of his actions pushed his way through and a faulty policy contradicting the State Sports Policy was adopted for the whole of the 2010-11 and 2011-12 Table Tennis seasons. This issue surfaced at the last GTTA meeting with many members once again questioning Vero why he was so hell bent on continuing with this faulty policy when other Associations were allowing marks to be awarded to all participants in line with the sports policy. Vero responded by claiming that beyond 32, the rest do not even know how to hold the TT racket and hence they do not deserve to be allotted the sports policy marks. Now our own club organizes several Table tennis Tournaments in Panjim and we consistently get around 80 sub-junior/ junior participants who do play decent Table Tennis. The number of school/ college children in the whole of Goa who play decent Table Tennis will thus be substantially higher, more than 500 in our modest estimates. As such, the contentions of the President Vero Nunes clearly indicate how he has lost complete touch with reality and how his actions with every passing day are getting more and more detrimental to the growth of Table Tennis in Goa. Instead of encouraging more and more children to participate in Table Tennis, he is actually discouraging them by depriving them of their sports Policy marks. It must be noted that whatever the merits and/or drawbacks of the present Sports Policy, it is a policy decision taken by the State Government and hence uniformly applicable to all Sports Associations. If children who participate in State level Tournaments in other disciplines like Carrom, Chess, Badminton, etc are all awarded sports Policy marks, why are children who participate in State level Tournaments in Table Tennis being deprived of their legitimate rights? Shouldn’t the principles of equality and uniformity come into play here? Why are children who take to a particular sport, in this case Table Tennis, be made to suffer because of wrong decisions taken by the State Association. It is the dog that has to wag the tail and the tail cannot wag the dog. Mr. Vero Nunes cannot act in any manner which contradicts the current state Policy and as such, the Association’s own policy is a legally untenable and unacceptable one and hence needs to be set aside. Hence, you are requested to intervene and take appropriate action against the Goa Table Tennis Association, which could include: 1. Directing the Goa Table Tennis Association not to act in any manner or frame any rule contradicting the current Sports Policy and depriving children from availing their Sports Policy marks. 2. Investigating how many children participated in the State Level Table Tennis Tournaments held during last two calendar seasons and how many of them were denied their Sports Policy marks. Taking corrective actions to award such marks to those deprived. 3. Taking appropriate action against Goa Table Tennis Association for indulging in such legally untenable acts. 4. Any other action which you may think appropriate. Furthermore, you may also note that the present Association is functioning in an unconstitutional manner as its tenure has expired which we have highlighted in another letter along with a whole lot of other irregularities. Appropriate action may be taken on that front too. Thanking You, Yours sincerely Sandeep Heble Secretary Panjim Table Tennis Club 9326129171 c.c to 1. Hon’ ble Chief Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar 2. Hon’ ble Sports Minister Shri Ramesh Tawadkar 3. Secretary, Goa Olympic Association
