Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 3rd edition of Khelo India University Games 2022 via video conference in Lucknow on May 25th 2021. The games, which will be held from 25th May to 3rd June in Uttar Pradesh, is an initiative to reignite the team spirit amongst youths of the country and further the feeling of ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’. The games will feature 4,000 athletes from as many as 200 universities competing across 21 sporting events, with associations in Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, and Gautam Buddha Nagar.
Modi remarked, “It has become a very good medium to increase the team spirit among the youth and the feeling of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat”. Furthermore, he noted that under the new National Education Policy, sports are now part of the curriculum and that the aim is to create a sporting culture in India. To support this, the government has allocated a whopping Rs 3,000 crore towards the Khelo India initiative, which is much higher than the meagre Rs 300 crore spent by the previous government under their urban sports infrastructure scheme.
Under the Khelo India University Games (KIUG), athletes will be able to compete and learn from experienced sportspersons and mentors, and will be provided with the best sports infrastructure to help them in their journey. The opening event was attended by Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, Union Minister of State for Sports Nisith Pramanik, and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath among other dignitaries.
Khelo India is an initiative, launched in 2018, to revive India’s sporting legacy by developing a strong sporting culture and infrastructure, promoting sports science, and incentivizing sportspersons from rural and urban India. It has since been dedicated to providing a platform to encourage and recognize sports talent from all across India while aiming to improve the quality of sportspersons and building a sporting ecosystem in the country.
