Khelo India: All you need to know about the Youth Games, University Games and the Winter Games
The Khelo India Youth Games, University Games and the Winter Games promote sports at a grassroots level in India.
Over the past few years, Indian youngsters have had a new platform to showcase their sporting talent - the Khelo India initiative.
Khelo India, which translates to ‘Let’s play India’, was proposed by the government of India in 2017 to revive India’s sporting culture by engaging with children at the grassroots level.
The initiative also focused on building better sporting infrastructure and academies across the country for various sports.
Under this movement, the Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG), the Khelo India University Games (KIUG) and the Khelo India Winter Games (KIWG) were set up as annual national sports competitions where youngsters, representing their states and universities, respectively, showcased their skills and competed for medals.
A few big names to compete in these events include ace sprinter Dutee Chand and archers Parth Salunkhe and Komalika Bari.
When were the first Khelo India Games held?
The initiative began with the Khelo India School Games in 2018 held in New Delhi. The big push came after the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) became associated with the initiative later that year and consequently the Khelo India School Games were renamed to the Khelo India Youth Games from 2019. It took place in Pune.
The first Khelo India University Games were hosted in 2020 at the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), Odisha.
The first edition of the Khelo India Winter Games were held in 2020
How many sports are played at the Khelo India Games?
The Khelo India Youth Games began in 2018 with 18 sports - athletics, archery, badminton, basketball, boxing, football, gymnastics, hockey, judo, kabaddi, kho kho, wrestling, weightlifting, tennis, table tennis, volleyball, swimming and shooting.
In 2024, when the KIYG was held in Tamil Nadu, it had 26 sports - archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, cycling (road and track), fencing, football, gatka, gymnastics, hockey, judo, kabaddi, kalaripayattu, kho kho, mallakhamb, shooting, swimming, table tennis, tennis, thang-ta, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, yogasana and squash. Silambam also featured as a demonstration sport.
Competitions in the KIYG are held in the Under-17 and Under-21 categories for both boys and girls.
The inaugural KIUG also had 18 sports - but featured fencing and rugby instead of gymnastics and kho kho from the KIYG programme. The second edition of the Khelo India University Games had 20 sports -- including two indigenous sports, yogasana and mallakhamb -- added to the programme.
For the Khelo India Winter Games, the list of sports include snow baseball, snow ski, mountaineering, ice skating, ice hockey, snow rugby, ice stock and snowshoe running.
How participants are selected for Khelo India Games
Budding sports talents are identified from annual lower-level and national level competitions. For the Khelo India University Games, the participants are further selected basis the World University Games norm.
Sporting talents are developed through the Khelo India e-Khel Pathshala, Khelo India Centres, Khelo India State Centres of Excellence (KISCE), Khelo India Accredited Academy and other training establishments identified by the scheme.
Khelo India Centres
The Khelo India Centres initiative aims to strengthen the sports infrastructure in India. It does this by supporting an existing sports training facility by offering financial support and support staff and equipment among other things. This comes under the Khelo India State Centres of Excellence (KISCE) scheme. The Khelo India Centres drive does this at a grassroots level.