Khelo India Youth Games is a national level multi-disciplinary grassroots games held in India annually in two categories. Primarily, it involves U-17 kids, mostly school students from the entire country. Every year, the best kids will be given an annual scholarship of Rs 5 lakh for 8 years to prepare for international sporting events and take Indian sports to the next level at the global stage.
The Khelo India Youth Games 2020 (KIYG 2020) will be held in Guwahati, Assam, from January 10 to January 22. A total of 20 different sports are being played, with 6,500 athletes from 37 teams expected to take part in the event. The opening ceremony of the 3rd edition of this tournament will be held at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Guwahati on January 10.
According to Chief Executive Officer Avinash Joshi, KIYG 2020 is going to be the biggest multidisciplinary game ever held in India. Cycling and lawn ball are new disciplines that have been added for the 2020 edition.
On December 29, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had launched the torch relay of the competition in Guwahati. The torch will be carried to all district headquarters to elicit the cooperation of the people for the success of the Games.
At the last two editions, Haryana, Maharashtra, and Delhi have been the best performers by a margin. Let’s take a look at the previous editions.
-Hosted by Delhi, the 1st edition of Khelo India School Games saw
Haryana take the maximum number of honors, the tally standing at 102.
It included a whopping 38 golds, 26 silvers, and 38 bronzes.
Maharashtra bagged 111, more than Haryana, but got two golds fewer than Haryana. They got 32 silvers and 43 bronzes instead.
Hosts Delhi stood third, with 94 titles. 25 golds, 29 silvers, and 40 bronzes filled their kitty.
-Held in Pune, Maharashtra, the second edition saw the swapping of
positions between the top two. Maharashtra benefitted from home
conditions and collected 85 golds, 62 silvers, and 81 bronzes to win 228
medals.
Haryana, on the second spot, collected 62 golds, 56 silvers, and 60 bronzes to a collective 178.
Delhi remained constant in the 3rd position, winning a total of 136 medals, including 48 golds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni3ZGo1H1ck
After two successful seasons, it remains to be seen how the 3rd edition of this competition pans out. There were some hushed talks of age-fraud during the last edition, and it remains to see how authorities try and curb the same this time around.
At a press conference in 2018, the then sports minister Rajyavardhan Rathore was accosted by a parent. “Sir, Khelo India Games are a very good idea, but you must do something about the age fraud,” he said. Rathore had promised he would.
Kiren Rijiju is now captaining the boat, and measures need to be taken to ensure the competition is played with the right spirit.
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Khelo India 2020