BFI may pull the plug Panaji: The Basketball Federation of India has threatened to derail the basketball event at the Lusofonia Games 2013 – or rather 2014 now – if the Goa Olympic Association continues to flirt with a new body.
The GOA has recognized the Association of Goan Basketball and handed them the right to govern the sport in the state. The GOA is also learnt to have handed over a list of two AGB officials who would be responsible to arrange for the 24 volunteers for the Lusofonia Games. But while all of this might be an effort to put the sport back on track, the BFI has made it clear that they already have a body registered in Goa. “The Goa Basketball Association is our registered body and we will not entertain anybody else. If you go ahead, we will not support the Lusofonia Games,” BFI CEO Roopam Sharma is understood to have told GOA General Secretary Gurudatta Bhakta. The BFI’s support, and clearance, is a must to host the basketball event at the Lusofonia Games. According to those in the know, the BFI is in the process of writing to all parties – GOA, Sports Authority of Goa and Lusofonia Games organizing committee – that the Goa Basketball Association, headed by Fr Ralin de Souza, is the sole body that has the right to administer the sport in the state. The GOA, after waiting to hear from the Federation, has already affiliated the AGB but Bhakta said his sole interest is to see that the sport does not continue to suffer. “It is my personal opinion that both the bodies come together and form an amicable body. If that does not happen, basketball’s fortunes will not change,” said Bhakta. Basketball has suffered for a long time due to an inept and defunct association. The GBA has been revived by former players, elections have been held and although there now seems to be light at the end of a long, dark and scary tunnel, affiliation fog in the state needs to be cleared. Source: Times of India, Goa Sep 15 edition.
