Govt. to have annual Khelo India North-Eastern Games soon: Mandaviya

New Delhi, May 24: Expanding the government’s flagship Khelo India programme, Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Saturday announced that the northeastern states will have annual Khelo India Games dedicated exclusively to the region.
Mandaviya made the announcement while addressing the Rising Northeast Investors Summit here at the Bharat Mandapam. The minister said that each of the eight northeastern states — Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura — will host the Games on a rotational basis.
“In line with the Khelo India Youth Games and University Games, we will be staging the Khelo India Northeast Games here every year which will not only help us scout talent, harness potential but also provide platform to showcase our traditional games as well,” Mandaviya said without specifying a timeline for the conduct of the event.
With the target of hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2030 and the Olympics in 2036, Mandaviya also said that a country as vast and as diverse as India is perfect for organising international competitions throughout the year.
“The way Northeast is undergoing transformation, sports goods industry and sports ecosystem is developing, the day is not far when the world will converge in the Northeast to play.
“Today, India’s best athletes are coming from the Northeast. They are representing India in top international competitions and taking Indian sports forward,” he said.
Mandaviya said that the sports infrastructure in the northeast region has increased exponentially with “86 projects currently in use”.
Under the Khelo India scheme, Rs 439 crore was sanctioned in 2021 for 64 sports infrastructure projects across the region. These include synthetic turfs, multipurpose halls, swimming pools, and hostels.
The sports minister said that the region is home to 250 Khelo India Centres (KICs), which is training more than 8000 athletes.
Mandaviya also reiterated the government’s commitment towards starting a massive talent identification drive where performances recorded on phone can be sent to the sports ministry by uploading them on the National Sports Repository System (NSRS) portal.
The Sports Authority of India will send talent scouts to the location of the event and after assessing the performance of the athlete, induct him in either the Khelo India Centre or National Centre Of Excellence depending upon their potential.
The northeast region hosted the Khelo India University Games Ashtalakshmi in 2023. (PTI)

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