Khelo India University Games will help prepare international level sportspersons: Sports Minister Anurag Thakur

Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Thakur has said that the Khelo India University Games (KIUG) will help prepare international level sportspersons. Mr. Thakur was briefing media persons in New Delhi about the upcoming Khelo India University Games being held in Karnataka. The University Games is the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who addressed the participants in the first edition of the Games. He spoke about the importance of the University Games as the bedrock of athletes who will represent India in major international tournaments including, the Olympics. Mr Thakur informed that the KIUG 2021 is the second edition of the Khelo India University Games, which will be hosted in Bengaluru with Jain Deemed-to-be University as the host University for the Games. The competition, which is being organized by the Government of Karnataka, along with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports will be held from 24th April to 3rd of next month. “KIUG 2021″ will witness over 3879 participants from around 190 universities. They will participate across 20 disciplines and for 257 gold medals, which include indigenous sports like Mallakhamba and yogasana. The Union Minister further added that there are several firsts in the Games, including it being the first Khelo India Green Games. The Games will be telecast live on DD and Sony 6 with Sony OTT platform Sony LIV along with a plethora of social media platforms including AIR, Prasar Bharati, Khelo India, and others. University Games is the largest platform for University-level players. It aims at providing a national-level launchpad for University students to showcase their talent and catch the eyeballs of the national team selectors for various sports.