PUNE: The Khelo India Youth Games (KYIG) 2019 ended on Sunday with the host state Maharashtra winning the Overall Trophy with 228 medals, which include 85 gold, 62 silver and 81 bronze wins respectively.
Their sportspersons and officials received the glittering trophy from Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar and Maharashtra Sports Minister Vinod Tawde during the closing ceremony held at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex.
Javadekar said the performances of the athletes at the Games had underlined the Prime Minister’s idea of “5 Minute Aur” for sports and also added that the government was determined to bring in a compulsory one-hour daily period for sports in every school across the country. Tawde added that he wanted not just five minutes, but 50 minutes and encouraged all the sportspersons present.
Maharashtra finished ahead of Khelo India School Games 2018 champions, Haryana, who were second with 62 gold, 56 silver and 60 bronze for a total of 178 medals, while Delhi were third with 48 gold, 37 silver and 51 bronze for a total of 136 medals.
SAI director general Neelam Kapur pointed out in her vote of thanks that it was the tremendous efforts of the Maharashtra government and the hundreds of volunteers that had made the Games so successful.
“KIYG 2019 had an approximate participation of 10,000 which comprised more than 5,925 athletes, 1,096 support staff, 893 technical officials, 36 chef-de-missions, 1010 volunteers and 1,500 officials.
“This was almost double in comparison to the approximate 5.500 at the KISG 2018,” Kapur said.
On the final day, 15 gold medals were at stake and of them eight were in archery, where hosts Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Haryana picked two each while Delhi and Punjab got one each.
Haryana asserted themselves in hockey, winning the girls Under-21 final to take their third gold in hockey from four finals, while Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala won gold each in volleyball. Manush Shah of Gujarat emerged the singles champion in Under-21 Table Tennis event, while Saubhi Patwari of West Bengal won the Girls Under-21 Singles competition.
