MAAA to tap talent at the grassroot level in 'Go for Gold' scheme

Pune, Aug 11: Keeping in view the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games, the Maharashtra Amateur Athletic Association (MAAA), in a policy decision, has decided to introduce inter-club athletic championship at the state level discarding the inter-district championship from the current year.

The scheme mooted by MAAA patron Suresh Kalmadi, who is also the president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), under the title ''Go for gold'' was chalked out for the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games to be held in Pune and the 2010 Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi.

''Our efforts have been focused so as to garner maximum medals in the third edition of the Commonwealth Youth Games to be held in Pune,'' opined MAAA president Adile Sumariwala, a former olympian.

MAAA secretary general Pralhad Sawant told reporters here today that the inaugural three-day meet will be held at the Shiv Chhatarapati Sports Citty Mahalunge - Balewadi, near here from September two to four. The meet will also serve as the barometer to select the Maharashtra contingent to take part in the West Zone athletic championship to be held at Pune from September 17 to 19.

''The boys under-18 Maharashtra squad will also be finalised on the performance of the athletes in the same championship,'' Mr Sawant pointed out.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra State and Inter-District Athletic Championship has been slated to be held in Pune on September two to four, which will also serve as selection trials to select the Maharashtra contingent to take part in the inter-state and national athletic championship to be held in Chennai from November 14 to 18, Mr Sawant said.

Both the inter-club and the state athletic championship will be forming a part of the Pune Festival which gets under way from September one. The twin athletic meets will also enable the athletes assmbling in Pune, an opportunity to witness the annual Ganesh festival which showcases the cultural heritage of the country, Mr Sawant explained.

Explaining the reasons of scrapping the inter-district championship, to be replaced by the inter-club athletic championship at the state level was to tap the talent from the grass root level in the four age groups for boys and girls in under 14, under 16, under 18 and under 20 respectively. The meet will provide a large base as atheletes from clubs from 30 affiliated district units will be on show which in turn will provide coaches the platform to select the talents, Mr Sawant emphasised.

The task of the talent search has been entrusted to a team of top notch coaches enlisted by the state body namely, former Olympians Balkrushna Akotkar, Ruchita Mistry, Dadoji Kondev awardee Suresh Gujarati, Pandurang Mhaskar, Chhatrapati awardees Gurbans Kaur, Rajendra Dravid, Homiyar Mistry, Madhu Shiv Dutt and Sushil Inamdar, Mr Sawant informed.

The coaches will not only tap the talent but also monitor the perforamances at every stage, he said and added, ''Our whole focus will be on the Commonwealth Youth Games so that the sportspersons from Maharashtra should earn maximum medals.'' The MAAA's other projects include the state technical examinations for officials at ten centres namely Pune, Mumbai, Karad, Kolhapur, Sindudurg, Jalgaon, Amravati, Nagpur, Aurangabad and Chandrapur on August 20 and a state level seminar for coaches in view of the 2008 Commonwealth Games on September one and two at Pune coinciding the state meet, Sawant said.

In a bid to discourage illegal rule books being published by unauthorised persons or officials, the MAAA has decided to scrap all such rule books furnishing wrong information. A circular to this effect has been circulated to all the affilated district units, Sawant categorically said. The publishing of the rule book is the perogative of the Athletic Federation of India (AFI), the apex body controlling athletics in the country, he added.

UNI