Goa managed a silver in weightlifting on Day 3 of the 37th National Games to finish 17th on the table, with a tally of sixteen medals – one of which is gold – in comparison to Maharashtra that heads the table with 30 gold and 67 medals in all. Haryana is at the second slot with 31 medals, 16 of which are gold.
Goa has so far won seven medals in Pencak Silat, which was added to the National Games as medal sport, winning one silver and six bronze. Goa has won six medals in modern pentathlon – one gold, one silver and four bronze – and one silver medal in Fast5 netball and weightlifting.
Shubham Verma, who hails from Maharashtra and works for the army in Pune, lifted the fourth silver for Goa with an impressive lift total of 326 kg, four short of the 330 lifted by gold medal winner Kojum Taba from Services.
“It hurt because I was so close to winning the gold,” said Shubham who failed in his 188 kg attempt of the clean jerk. Shubham had a snatch of 143 kgs and a clean jerk of 183 kgs before stumbling in his final attempt.
Shubham has represented Goa at the national level in the past and finished with silver at the 2015 National Games in Kerala.
“Goa needs to have proper training facilities and better coaches,” said Chendu Sekar, who has been coaching Shubham and is the head coach of the Goan contingent for this edition of the games.
“I am happy but would definitely have been happier had one of our own boys won a medal. With the government promising us all this equipment, I think a major part of our problem is now solved,” said an ebullient Goa Weightlifting Association president Priyanka Naik.
“It is a pity that weightlifting is being held in a temporary structure. Had this been a permanent structure, we would have the space to start an academy,” said Priyanka whilst confessing of the association’s dream of starting an academy.
“Most of these weightlifters start from young and keep training. We do not have such facilities for our children and this puts us at a disadvantage over others,” said Priyanka.
Goa eves who recently won the 2 Tier of All India Football Federation (AIFF) National Football Championship, got a 1-4 walloping from Haryana in the women football opener at Tilak Maidan in Vasco.
Goa took the lead when the game was 13 minutes old through Michel Castanha, but that was all, as the eves from Haryana equalised in the 45th minute and kept scoring at will thereafter. Rajni Bala (45), Neha (47), Santosh (58) and Puja (91) scored for the winners.
Goa made its debut in beach football with an impressive 12-3 win over Odisha. Pedro Gonsalves and Kashinath Rathod scored four goals for Goa and Joshua, Satish, Richard and Nehal scored one apiece.
Earlier, Kerala beat Jharkhand 16-1; Lakshwadeep beat Delhi 9-3; and Punjab beat Uttarkhand 12-7.