Panaji: Sadanand Shet Tanavade has emerged as a consensus candidate to take over as president of the Goa Olympic Association (GOA) with elections scheduled to be held later this month.The Rajya Sabha MP is president of the Goa Lacrosse Association which does not have permanent affiliation or voting right. That, however, won’t be an impediment as Tanavade is expected to be nominated by Goa Judo Association for the top post.Tanavade will replace Shripad Naik, union minister of state for power and new & renewable energy, who has been GOA president since 2012. It was under his leadership that Goa hosted the Lusofonia Games 2014 and National Games 2023.Naik is 73 and cannot contest elections as per the National Sports Governance Act, 2025.According to sources, only two of the existing GOA members – treasurer Jayesh Naik and member Sudesh Thakur – are expected to find a place in the new committee which, without taking names, officials said will have “lot of new and energetic faces.”“The election calendar has already been notified with publication of the electoral college on August 9,” GOA secretary Gurudutta Bhakta told reporters on Friday. “Both me and our president (Naik) will not continue. You will be able to see a lot of new and energetic faces when the results are declared during the Annual General Body Meeting on Aug 25.”RD Mangueshkar, the indomitable force behind Goa’s rise in taekwondo and now secretary general of the Taekwondo Federation of India, said GOA has had a clean record for several years, thanks to its secretary and treasurer.“There is no misappropriation of funds and all bills are promptly settled,” said Mangueshkar vice president in the outgoing GOA executive committee. “I want the new committee to maintain transparency and high standards in administration. It’s a thankless job but officials have really done it well. Our dream is to have an Olympic Bhavan. Hopefully it will come true.”GOA has identified land for an Olympic Bhavan in Carambolim.“We hoped to lay the foundation stone during the tenure of the present executive committee, but the ceremony would now take place once the newly elected committee assumes office,” said treasurer Naik. “We have had two meetings with chief minister Pramod Sawant. The Bhavan will come up on approximately 10,000 sqm of land in Tiswadi taluka.”The Olympic Bhavan is envisioned as a landmark sports complex featuring a multipurpose indoor arena capable of hosting national-level competitions, besides housing the offices of GOA and its affiliated state sports associations.States like Punjab, Karnataka, Telangana have Olympic Bhavans, while Maharashtra govt has granted approval for the construction of the Olympic building.
