Nilesh Cabral, the MLA of Curchorem and the president of Quepem Taluka Chess Association has been elected unopposed as President of Goa Chess Association.
Panaji
Addressing the media in the city on Monday, Kishor Bandekar -- elected unopposed as Secretary, GCA -- announced that Cabral was elected unopposed as President, GCA for a four-year term starting 2017-21. With outgoing President Vinay Tendulkar, President, Dharbandora TCA, voluntarily opting out of the race, new leadership was brought in.
With the earlier executive committee constituting of seven members, the new committee which took charge on May 28 after its General Body Meeting decided to give a fair representation to all the State talukas with a member from each in it being elected unopposed. Hailing the “historical elections”, D V Sunder, Vice President, FIDE expressed happiness stating it to be a humbling experience.
While Vishwas Pilankar was elected the new Treasurer, GCA, Ashesh Keni (South) was re-elected as vice President along with new faces such as Mahesh Cancolkar (North), Vasant Naik (North) and Shubha Subash Phaldesai (South). The Executive Committee shall elect one of them as senior Vice President to act as President in the absence of the elected President for any meetings and events. Subash Parsekar (Pernem), Satyawan Harmalkar (Bicholim), Sharendra Naik (Canacona) and Machindra Desai (Dharbandora) were elected unopposed as new Joint Secretaries. Wilson cruz (Ponda) was elected as Joint Treasurer, GCA, as per the final result declared by the Presiding Officer, Subhash Shirodkar.
Speaking to the media, Nilesh Cabral, the new GCA President stated that though he might be a politician, people tend to disassociate his ilk with sports. “At some point of time we also used to play games and with my current position with GCA, I will give back to the youth through Chess by re-discovering by non-political side,” he promised.
“GCA was formed back in 1978, when I was only three. With GCA having associations in all 12 talukas, I will strive forward to have youngsters in each taluka come in contact with good players and stay motivated in the mind game,” Cabral declared.
While acknowledging that the annual grant given to GCA of Rs. 1 lakh is less, he revealed that tournaments conduct grants of Rs. 1 lakh annually and National tournament grant of Rs. 5 lakhs once in four years which is not in suffice. He furthermore mentioned that the players getting daily allowance of Rs. 300 for participating in Nationals and 2nd Class train tickets under sports policy was not acceptable. In his capacity as an elected representative in the Assembly, Cabral said he would highlight the issue to alleviate the problem at hand. He further said allowances to players should be given according to their performance levels.
The Curchorem MLA also announced that he would recommend the State government in introducing Chess during the sports period at least from Std IV onwards. Other States like Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and west Bengal have made it compulsory in schools which have shown in their academic results and similar excellence can be achieved in our State,” Cabral maintained. With there being only three SAG Coaches Sanjay Kavlekar, Swapnil Hoble and Avinash Malwankar, he assured he will appoint a good coach in every talukas for the development of students in each taluka. “Last year, the (then) Sports Minister (Ramesh Tawadkar) in the Floor of the House promised that he would ensure additional Chess coaches and start a Chess academy neither of which happened,” he divulged. In my capacity as GCA President along with my new committee, we shall strive to take Goa forward by realizing on the failed promises,” Cabral maintained.
In metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata there are GM tournaments. “In my tenure over the next four years, with the Government’s help, I would look forward to have a GM tournament. Goa has many young talented players who deserve this tournament, “the new GCA President envisioned.
Kishor Bandekar, GCA Secretary who also serves as the Joint Secretary, All India Chess Federation, stated that he knew cabral since the last 15 years much before he became a politician. “I know his working style and we (new executive committee) know he will take Chess further, Bandekar said about Cabral. “We had a setback for the last four years because of mining but the current dispensation will look forward to putting things right,” he further stated. New office bearers of GCA elected unopposed
