Thaindian News

Panaji, March 7 (IANS) Learning a lesson from the multi-million rupee scams tumbling out before and after the 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG) in New Delhi, the organisers of the 2013 Lusofonia Games in Goa Monday sought media’s help to spot any graft.

Similar to the Commonwealth Games, which see the participation of countries which were once ruled by the British, the Lusofonia Games involve athletes coming from Lusophone or Portuguese-speaking nations and areas that Lisbon formerly ruled.

Alex Vong, president of the Associação dos Comites Olimpicos de Lingua Oficial Portuguesa (ACOLOP) (Association of the Portuguese-Speaking Olympic Committees), which is organising the sporting fest in Goa - one of the oldest Portuguese colonies - has asked the media to keep their eyes peeled for any CWG-like corruption during the organisation of the Games.

Replying to media queries on how the organisers would ensure that they keep out corruption in creating infrastructure for the Games, Vong said: “We share a good relationship with (Goa Olympic Association chairman Subhash) Shirodkar. But we also trust in your eyes and ears to be vigilant so that these things do not happen.”

India’s CWG problems were known worldwide and the ACOLOP would go to all lengths to ensure that corruption is kept at bay from the process, he added.

Apart from hosts India, the other countries participating in the 2013 Games include Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Macau (China), Mozambique, Portugal and São Tome and Principe. Equatorial Guinea, India and Sri Lanka are associate members of the Games.

Goa’s organistion of the 2013 games has been hit by controversy and confusion from day one, with Shirodkar aggressively lobbying for making his electoral constituency Shiroda as the venue for building an indoor volleyball court.

At a media briefing Friday, neither Shirodkar nor the state director of sports V.M. Prabhudessai were sure about the number of venues which were required to be constructed or upgraded for the event.

“This is just the first inspection of the venues by the ACOLOP team. I am sure we will be able to come up with a definitive presentation soon,” Shirodkar said.

Both the GOA as well as the sports department authorities were unable to comment on the total budget which was expected to be set aside for organization of the event. Prabhudessai however said: “Rs 20.crore is being set aside for the logistical and other organizational as well as well as other expenses”.

Football, volleyball, table tennis, beach volleyball and athletics are some of the disciplines to figure in the 2013 Games.