Next Khelo India Youth Games in Madhya Pradesh from January 31

The Khelo India Youth Games 2022 will be held in the state of Madhya Pradesh from January 31 to February 11, 2023.

This will be the fifth edition of the Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG), which was first held in 2018 in capital New Delhi.

The 2021 edition, which was postponed due to COVID-19, was held in June this year in Haryana. The previous hosts have now passed on the torch to Madhya Pradesh.

Eight cities across Madhya Pradesh  - capital Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior, Ujjain, Maheshwar, Jabalpur, Mandla and Balaghat - will host the KIYG 2022.

Madhya Pradesh will be the fifth Indian state to host the Khelo India Youth Games. After the inaugural edition in New Delhi, Maharashtra hosted the event in 2019 while Assam was the venue in 2020. The last edition was conducted in Haryana.

The upcoming edition of the Khelo India Youth Games will feature 27 disciplines with water sports being included for the first time in the history of the games. New disciplines like canoe slalom, kayaking, canoeing and rowing will also feature alongside the usual sports and the indigenous games.

KIYG 2022 will feature a mix of Olympic, non-Olympic and traditional sports like mallakhamb.

Haryana were the inaugural champions of the Khelo India Youth Games in 2018 before Maharashtra won back-to-back titles in 2019 and 2020.

Haryana wrestled back the crown in 2021, winning 137 medals, 52 gold, 39 silver abd 46 bronze and beat Maharashtra, who bagged 125 medals, 45 gold, 40 silver and 40 bronze.

Interestingly, Maharashtra and Haryana have finished in the top two in each edition of the Khelo India Youth Games thus far.

The Khelo India Youth Games is the flagship event of the government of India’s Khelo India (Let’s play India) initiative, devised to engage with youth at the grassroots levels through sport. The Khelo India University Games and the Khelo India Winter Games are the other two events under the Khelo India umbrella.