Taekwondo won maximum medals for Goa but got unfair treatment: Mangueshkar

Panaji: RD Mangueshkar has promised better days for Goan sports in general and taekwondo in particular after being elected as the general secretary of the Taekwondo Federation of India (TFI).

Mangueshkar received 42 of the 68 votes to edge past Prabhat Kumar Sharma (Jharkhand) during the elections held in the Capital.

Regular taekwondo activities in the country had come to a halt following factionalism within the TFI. In 2019, India Taekwondo, a governing body formed by the Indian Olympic Association to end the factional fight inside the TFI, was formed, but the sport, and athletes, continued to suffer.

It was no different in Goa.

“Taekwondo is one sport that has won the maximum medals for Goa, but when there was a dispute within the federation and we could not produce the letter (from TFI), we were treated unfairly by the state government,” Mangueshkar told reporters on Saturday. “We were not allowed to field the team for nationals, our bills were kept pending and we were made to suffer. Even our coaches who are national medallists and have produced several top athletes were humiliated.”

Taekwondo, according to the association’s estimates, has won over 100 gold medals for Goa at different national championships.

The sport is the only one to have won gold medals for the state at the National Games since 1994. This time around, with taekwondo missing, Goa failed to win a gold for the first time.

“We have won medals at Lusofonia Games, Commonwealth, Asian championships, National Games, national championships. But now there is no support for the sport.

“Our coach (P. Anand) who won a gold at the National Games in Kerala (2015) is now a contract coach for Gujarat. He’s teaching them because our government does not care. If there is a national championship, Anand loves the state so much, that he will represent Goa,” said Mangueshkar.

The Taekwondo Association of Goa (TAG) president is also general secretary of TFI and laughed that the letters that SAG wanted will now be signed by him.

He said he will quit as TAG president and pave the way for fresh elections, expected to be held next month.

“During our tough times, some sports officers behaved as if we are strangers but (Gurudutta) Bhakta, secretary of Goa Olympic Association, provided full cooperation. I cannot forget that,” said Mangueshkar.

Ishari K Ganesh, president of the Tamil Nadu Olympic Association, has been elected as president of TFI.

The elections were held under the supervision of Justice G.S. Sistani (Retd), the Delhi High Court-appointed Court Commissioner-cum-Returning Officer for the purpose of conducting elections for the executive committee of TFI.