NEW DELHI: The Union Sports Ministry has postponed the government’s Khelo India multi-sport event that was scheduled to be held in December to the last week of January 2018, owing to the toxic smog that continues to engulf the nation’s capital, the venue for the programme.
Ministry officials told The Tribune that the shorter winter days would also add to the loss of playing time due to adverse weather conditions, leading to a cascading effect on the event’s schedule. The Sports Authority of India (SAI) notified the ministry on Tuesday and Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has given his nod to reschedule the event to a later date in January, the report says.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to inaugurate the ‘Sports for All’ and ‘Sports for Excellence’ initiatives of the Khelo India programme on December 21 and all 16 sports federations, whose disciplines were included in the programme, were told not to hold any event in the Capital as it would clash with government’s big push, says the report.
The revamped Khelo India, unveiled in September this year, has a budget of over Rs17 billion for the period 2017-2020 and has announced plans to give 1,000 young athletes a scholarship of Rs 500,000 each, besides setting a target to reach 200 million children. It also plans to promote 20 universities across India as sports hubs to help talented athletes pursue their education and chase glory in competitive sports.
The Delhi event in December was to have incorporated competitions in archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, football, gymnastics, hockey, judo, kabaddi, kho-kho, shooting, swimming, volleyball, weightlifting and wrestling across various venues.
