The National Gatka Association of India (NGAI) and World Gatka Federation (WGF) have planned to include Gatka game in the Olympic Games. Before inclusion in Olympics, initially Gatka game will be introduced in Asian Games for which an exhaustive development for modernization has been formulated. Aiming to demonstrate debut of Gatka at international competitions, infrastructure will be upgraded and modernized besides management of Gatka tournaments by using latest IT techniques. To realize this target the NGAI and WGF have formulated a “Vision Document-2030” for next 20 years to promote and enrich this game by latest know how.
High time for computerization of Gatka infrastructure
NGAI and ISMAA are making herculean efforts since long time to get Gatka its rightful and due place on international sports map. It has been felt that more vigorous efforts are the need of the hour to maintain craze of players and spectators towards this symbol of ancient culture. In order to achieve desired goals to further popularize this sport, some suggestions are proposed to bring required changes keeping in line with modern era of computerization.
The proposals are as under:
- Digital scoreboard procured to display live judgment information to the spectators.
- Enabled online tournament entries of players and officials so as to declare instant results and proper maintenance of results and records.
- Bout replay facility on LEDs (Video umpire) to resolve scoring issues.
- Installation of HD video cameras for live telecast of matches.
- Wooden Gatka sticks being replaced with fibre sticks embedded with sensors & microchips for quick scoring and calculating fouls.
- More safety equipment like face-guard, chest-guard, shoulder-guard, inner-guard and shin-guard have also been introduced.
- Smart ID cards for players with unique ID number and bar/QR coding to maintain, secure and detailed information of players & officials.
- To launch national/international grading/ranking of players/officials.
- Certificates to be embedded with holograms and bar/QR-coding.
- Synthetic inter-locking mats for Gatka ground with pre-demarcation of field boundaries.
- A dedicated server to maintain & secure data of players, referees and tournaments.
- Mobile van for taking material and equipment to hold training camps.
