Maharashtra, Haryana Ready For Battle Royale As 6th Edition Of Khelo India Youth Games Kicks Off On January 19

Defending champions Maharashtra and challengers Haryana will once again rekindle their competitive spirit as they aim to underline their supremacy in the 6th Khelo India Youth Games 2023, Tamil Nadu, that kick off on Friday. In the last five editions of the Khelo India Youth Games (the first one was called the Khelo India School Games), Maharashtra won the overall crown thrice while Haryana got the better of their nearest rivals twice.

The Khelo India scheme was launched in 2016 to provide financial assistance to talented athletes apart from establishing and supporting multiple Khelo India Academies. These Games have helped unearth talent aplenty and that has helped form a reservoir of talent across Olympic disciplines.

Since 2018, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports have organised five Khelo India Youth Games, three Khelo India University Games and three Khelo India Winter Games and multiple Khelo India Women's Leagues in various sports. The inaugural Khelo India Para Games were held in New Delhi in December.

A total of Rs 2418 crore was allotted for the Khelo India scheme from 2016-2023 and further provision of Rs 3165 crore has been made for the next five years.

In the Khelo India Youth Games, the domination of Maharashtra and Haryana has been so absolute that no other state has even come within touching distance of their medals tally in any of the five editions.

At the 6th edition of the Games, Maharashtra will be fielding a 415-strong squad competing in 24 sports disciplines while Haryana will have a contingent size of 491 members. Hosts Tamil Nadu has the largest contingent in the Games with 559 members.

Over 5600 sportspersons will be vying for a total of 278 gold, 278 silver and 377 bronze medals across 26 sports disciplines over the next fortnight with competitions being held in 12 venues across four cities - Chennai, Madurai, Trichy and Coimbatore - of Tamil Nadu.

Squash will be making its Khelo India Youth Games debut in the city that has been home to the sport in India for over three decades while Tamil Nadu's traditional martial-arts form, Silambam, will be a demo sport.

Swimming and Athletics will have 38 and 32 gold medals on offer respectively while boxing (20), Cycling (16) Gymnastics (17), Fencing (12), Shooting (16) Weightlifting (20) and Wrestling (21) will be the other major medal events.

Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu has been geared up for the successful conduct of the Games, which will be declared open by the Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in a grand opening ceremony at Chennai's Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. The ceremony will also showcase the rich cultural heritage of the state.

All the venues have been refurbished and the rising sports stars will get to showcase their talent at the state-of-art stadiums which have hosted international competitions like the ATP Chennai Open, Chess Olympiad, Nehru Gold Cup and many national level events.

Speaking about their preparation for the Games, Maharashtra chef-de-mission Vijay Santan said they were confident of not just retaining the crown but improving their last edition's tally of 161 medals given the strength of their squad.

"In the earlier editions some of the top stars had to skip the Khelo India Youth Games because they were playing in international meets. But this time the Games are not clashing with any other events and so all of them are available and ready to compete," he added.

Among the other states, hosts Tamil Nadu has set themselves a target of breaking into the top-three in the medals tally and are banking on local support to encourage the players.

Last edition third-place finishers Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Kerala will be the other contenders for the top-10 positions on the medal tally.

The Khelo India Youth Games 2023 will be live on DD Sports.