NEW DELHI: Building on the roaring success of the inaugural edition of the Khelo India School Games, the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) along with Star Sports kickstarted the countdown to Khelo India Youth Games, Maharashtra 2019 with an appeal to encourage India to play more with the evocative ‘#5MinuteAur’ campaign.
The campaign has a strong call to action, taking the Khelo India movement forward, featuring the likes of Manu Bhaker, Jeremy Lalrinnunga, Saurabh Chaudhary, Lakshya Sen, Esha Singh, Tababi Devi, Srihari Natraj and champions Mary Kom, Sushil Kumar amongst others, bringing childhood playground memories to life. The #5MinuteAur campaign created this year has a simple insight, we are all born with an inherit instinct to play, kids and adults alike.
In its inaugural edition, Khelo India had a strong message “Kheloge Kudoge Banoge lajawaab” encouraging more kids to play every day, it was an effort towards changing an age-old belief. Building on the core of this message through the #5MinuteAur campaign, Star Sports and the ministry want Indian kids to be encouraged for playing for an extra five minutes. The time is symbolic, with an assumption that if each child plays a little bit longer, India will add a billion minutes of play every day, that has the potential to translate into 50 medals for the country.
Portraying this five-minute agreement between a mother and a child, the aim with #5MinuteAur is to spark a fire in every enthusiast in India to strive for better through sports. The manifesto, “Hum Aaj Aur Khelenge Toh Kal Aur Jeetenge” is true not just for the sport we play, but for life itself.
The Khelo India Youth Games 2019 is scheduled to take place at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune from 9-20 January. It will see over 10,000 participants from 29 states and 7 Union Territories. The games will be bought to life by over 6200 athletes, 1800 technical officials, 1000 volunteers and 1000 personnel working behind the scenes.
Conceptualised to revive the sports culture in India at the grassroots level by building a strong framework for all sports played in our country, the upcoming season will be held across 18 sporting disciplines in the Under-17 and Under-21 age categories.
“The success of Khelo India School Games is a testimony to the hunger and multitude of sporting talent in India. Buoyed by the terrific response for Khelo India School Games and with an aim to increase participation in sports across all age groups, we have not just added two sports this year but the games will also be played under two age categories U-17 and U-21 to allow even more enthusiasts to participate and flourish. The ‘5 minute aur’ campaign for the Khelo India Youth Games 2019 to be hosted in Pune, Maharashtra is a reflection of the immense strides we’ve made and the journey that lies in front of us to make India a truly sporting nation. We hope it will inspire India to work towards incorporating sports as a way of life.” Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said.
To support the Khelo India initiative by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Star India has doubled the level of promotion and broadcast coverage for the competition. The coverage of the upcoming season will include live telecast in 5 languages (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and English) and of all the 18 disciplines for both age groups.
Star India MD Sanjay Gupta said, “The first edition of Khelo India exceeded expectations and instilled an aspiration for sports amongst the youth in India and now, with “5 minute aur”, we are aiming to trigger more pro sport conversations to make India adopt sports as a way of life. The campaign calls for the Indian sports enthusiast to not only support their heroes, but also work towards emulating their feats.
“Staying true to our commitment of bringing the best in class sports experience to the passionate Indian sports fan, we will broadcast Khelo India Youth Games in 5 languages this season along with the live telecast of 9 disciplines.”
