Panaji: The International Purple Fest, Goa 2024, saw the Purple Sports segment develop into a frenzied, competitive battleground on its third day, producing intriguing contests with a day filled with enthusiastic competitions and passionate participation from athletes across all domains of disabilities.
The National lawn tennis tournament for the visually impaired concluded at Clube Tennis de Gaspar Dias on Wednesday.
Nibin Matthew emerged as the champion in the B1 category (fully blind), while Shamsuddin PA was the runner-up. In the B2 (partially blind) category, Arbaaz Patel from Maharashtra walked away with the top honours. Umair Shaikh from Telangana finished runner-up.
The day-long Boccia event saw great enthusiasm and rich participation from men and women at Dr KB Hedgewar HS-Cujira. The competition saw three categories depending on the disabilities; with the mix-gender contest also producing close battles.
Sarita Dwivedi, an artist from Uttar Pradesh, dabbled into sports for the first time and did it very well.
The Kanpur resident topped the BC2 category. Komal Vyas won the BC3 category event while Selvam M was the champion in the BC4 competition. Goa’s Moises Rodrigues was the runner-up in the BC4 event.
In wheelchair cricket at SAG ground, Campal; Karnataka and Delhi sealed the final spots. The final will be played on Thursday at 9 am.
For the hosts Goa, who were making their debut in wheelchair cricket, the event provided a lot of exposure and encouragement. The hosts put up a better fight today compared to their disastrous outing yesterday.
Taking on Madhya Pradesh, Goa won the toss and batted first. Riding on a fantastic knock of 83 from Mahesh Padalkar, Goa posted 114/4 in the allotted 20 overs. MP, however, chased down the target in 12 overs with eight wickets in hand.
Elsewhere, Karnataka beat Mumbai by 58 runs; UP beat Rajasthan by 7 wickets; Delhi beat Telangana by 6 wickets.
Goa put up a winning display on the opening day of in men’s and women’s Unified beach volleyball tournament at Miramar. In the women’s category, Goa beat Kerala 2-1 (15- 6, 14 – 16, 15 – 11). Goa men came from a set down to overcome a fighting Puducherry 2-1 (11-15, 15 – 10, 15-12).
The day also saw National Para-Athletics Championship 2024, being declared open in the presence of Sports Minister Govind Gaude, Social Welfare Minister Subhash Phal Dessai and other dignitaries, at Bambolim Athletics Stadium. The National Championship, which is a qualifying competition for the upcoming Paris Olympics and World Championship, will see around 1500 para-athletes from all over India compete across around 180 events based on their disabilities classification. The National Para-Athletics Championship will conclude on 13th January.
