On the way to Calangute, a popular tourist destination in North Goa, a couple of players, dressed in their respective team jerseys were anxiously looking out for travel facilities after being dropped by the official bus midway on their return from one of the venues hosting the 37th National Games.
The duo were returning to their respective hotels after conducting a recce of the venue at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium, near the Goa University campus, where the fencing events of the 37th National Games start Thursday.
The bus reserved for the athletes and officials dropped the duo almost a couple of kilometres away from their destination, citing that the road was a narrow one and left them to fend for themselves in the scorching heat.
Finding no other alternative, the duo decided to walk down to their respective hotels before being spotted by this scribe and a member of a state association, who decided to give them a lift to their places of stay.
“It’s messy here, first we were made to wait for one vehicle after another as there was no clarity. Then finally after managing to get one that stopped at various drop points, we were asked to get down at an intersection almost two-three kms from our hotel,” the manager said.
“We have been a part of many tournaments, but it’s messed up here. Unable to find any other alternative, we decided to walk down before your cab offered us the lift.”
The manager alleged that the same issue cropped up in the morning due to which she had to miss the technical officials’ meeting on the eve of the competition.
“In the morning too, we were picked from various locations due to which we reached late, almost by more than 30 minutes. Eventually, we missed the meeting of the technical officials at the same venue,” she said.
The coach also echoed similar views, and expressed concerns if they can make it on time for the competition, starting 10am IST.
“We had a rest day today, but you can see how we got to rest. Thankfully, the athlete did not have to undergo similar difficulties, and we hope to make it on time for the competition tomorrow,” the coach said.
Another contingent member also added that they were welcomed by rooms with defective locks, and beds with bugs on arrival. However, the contingent was later upgraded to better facilities later on.
Weightlifters Dipali, Prashant break nat’l records
Dipali Gursale of Maharashtra broke the snatch and total National Records in the women’s 45kg category while Prashant Koli of Services Sports Promotion Board (SSCB) broke the snatch record in Men’s 55 Kg enroute to winning the gold medal at the Campal Sports Village.
Chandrika Tarafdar broke the clean & jerk national record to secure the silver in the 45kg category. T. Priya Darshini of Telengana secured the bronze.
Dipali broke Komal Kohar’s snatch record of 74 Kg and Jhilli Dalabehera’s total record of 164 kg. Chandrika Tarafdar also broke Jhilli’s clean & jerk record of 94 Kg.
In the men’s category Prashant Koli broke Mukund Aher’s snatch record of 114 kg who finished in second in the competition. S. Guru Naidu of Andhra Pradesh won the bronze. Assam’s Sidhanta Gogoi, picked the silver in men’s 61kg category with a total effort of 266kg (116kg in Snatch & 150kg in Clean and Jerk).
In the Women’s 49 Kg category, Gyaneshwari Yadav clinched the gold lifting a total of 177 kg. Preeti of Haryana secured silver with a total of 174 kg while former Asian Champion in the 45 kg, Jhilli Dalbehera finished with a bronze medal, lifting 167 kg.
At the Campal Multipurpose Indoor Stadium, Haryana secured both gold medals in Netball. The men beat Kerala 45-42 in a tightly fought final to secure the Gold Medal while the women beat Karnataka 58-52 to be on top of the podium. In the men’s bronze medal match, Jammu & Kashmir and Delhi played out an exciting 73-73 tie to be declared as joint winners. In the women’s bronze medal match, Delhi and Telangana were also declared joint winners after the match ended in a 64-64 tie.
At the Athletics Stadium in Bambolim, Women’s Rugby 7s got underway with first seed Odisha women dominating Goa with a 52-0 win in the first match of Pool A. Fourth seed Kerala beat Bihar 40-5 in Pool A. In Pool B, second seeded Maharashtra beat Karnataka 48-0 while West Bengal got the better of Delhi 38-10.
In the men’s matches, Haryana beat Goa 31-0 in Pool A. In the other match of the group, Odisha edged past Kerala 15-12 to start with a win. In Pool B, West Bengal beat Punjab 19-7 while Maharashtra beat Bihar 19-12.