PANAJI, May 4: Twice Olympian S. S. Narayan, Olympian Fortunato Franco, AIFF Player of the Decade (1985-95), Brahmanand Shankawalkar and former Indian forward Bruno Countinho will be the panelists for the FIFA World Cup 2010 seminar to be held as part of the 34th National convention of the Sports Journalists’ Federation of India (SJFI) in Panaji from May 5 to 9.The five-day event will also feature discussions on the future of Indian cricket (May 5), the Olympic Gold Quest project (May 6) and Indian rugby (May 8). The football seminar is slated for May 7.
Competitions on a zonal basis for the J.K. Bose Twenty20 cricket tournament, A C Bali Table Tennis Tournament and the ESPN –STAR penalty kicks will be the other highlight of the convention. The event will be attended by around 100 sports journalists representing 16 States including members of the Sports Journalists’ Association of Goa.
V.M. Prabhu Desai, Executive Director, Sports Authority of Goa will be the chief guest at the inaugural session on May 6.
The seminar on the future of Indian cricket will have the august presence of former Indian stumper and chairman of the selection committee, Kiran More, and distinguished first class cricketer, Amol Muzumdar. Kishen Narsi, executive committer member, International Amateur Boxing Federation (AIBA), and former Indian hockey captain, Olympian Viren Rasquinha (CEO, Olympic Gold Quest), will be key speakers at the discussion on Olympic disciplines while Greg Davey, Development Manger, Rugby India will make a presentation on India’s preparations for the Commonwealth Games to be held in New Delhi in October.
The convention and related activities are being supported by a host of corporates including Valuable Group, UFO Moviez, Standard Chartered Bank, ESPN-STAR Sports, NIKE, Procam International, UB Group, Kingfisher, Coca Cola India, Percept D’ Mark, SERVO, Essar, Vinsura and Rugby India.
In a special message to the SJFI, the Union Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs, M. S. Gill said: “I find that a very impressive four-day programme has been made out and it should be a fine opportunity for sports journalists and sportspersons to have a dialogue on matters of National interest.”
The convention is being held in Goa for the first time. The cricket tournament will be held at Panjim Gymkhana and SAG ground, Campal. Table Tennis and Penalty Kicks will be at the SAG complex.