Taekwondo ace Anand eyes gold hat-trick for Goa

Panaji: P Anand, Goa’s ace taekwondo player, has won two gold medals at successive National Games in Jharkhand and Kerala but his dream of a hat-trick, and that too at home, has been kept on hold.
It’s been more than five years since the last edition of the National Games was held in Kerala. He’s been waiting ever since to win gold in front of adoring fans and do something which no Goan has done before.
If the National Games were first scheduled in 2016, it’s four years now that the multidiscipline event has been postponed, the latest reason being the coronavirus pandemic that has swept the world.
“We are the hosts, so we don’t have to qualify and can directly compete. There are 16 medals on offer for men and women. It will be tough as teams like Services, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Haryana will field their best players, but we have confidence in ourselves,” says Anand.
The 28-year-old last took part in the National Championship held at Odisha in 2018. The Ponda resident is training hard with coach Sunil Sharma and keeps himself fit.
“Once the lockdown is over, hopefully, we will have the state championship and players will be selected based on performance. We can do better than last time as we have Army people training too,” says Anand.
Goa’s best taekwondo player had to move to Gujarat to train players and gain more experience.
“I work with the Sports Authority of Gujarat in Ahmedabad. I should have been training Goan boys and girls but due to lack of financial assistance, I moved to Gujarat,” he says.
Anand has a long list of achievements that makes him Goa’s better-known players. He participated in two Asian Games at Guangzhou in 2010 and Inchenon in 2014. He lost in a medal bout in Guangzhou, while he made it to the pre-quarterfinals at Inchenon.
He also qualified for the 2018 Jakarta Games, but missed the bus due to issues between the national federation and Sports Authority of India.
“I qualified for the 2018 Games by winning the National championship, but the issues cost me dear. Even those who went for the Jakarta Games had to pay from their own pocket,” says Anand.
A winner of the Dilip Sardesai Sports Excellence Award in 2015-16 for his gold medal, he was showered with praise and assurances that taekwondo players will be given jobs. Five years later, those promises have proven to be empty.
“If other states like Haryana can take care of their players, why not us? There should be some security for top players. Imagine if a player like me struggles, what example are we setting for the future?,” says Anand.