LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh Olympic Association (UPOA) proposes to conduct the first-ever National Youth Games in November-December 2019. If the plan goes through, it would also be the first big multi-discipline sporting event in UP since Independence.
The state government has asked its nodal agency – Uttar Pradesh Sports Directorate – to prepare a plan in this connection, Hindustan Times reports.
“National Youth Games would be the best way to channelise the energy of youths (under-18) through sports. This will also help raise government’s commitment in support of youth power in the state,” UPOA’s secretary-general Anandeshwar Pandey told HT.
“Getting the hosting rights of the National Youth Games won’t be a problem for the UPOA once we have the approval of the state government for its conduct,” said Pandey, who is also the treasurer of the Indian Olympic Association.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath are talking about the welfare of youths. The conduct of the National Youth Games will give young sportspersons good exposure and competition before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,” said Pandey.
“Once the infrastructure is ready for the 2019 Games, there would be no problem in conducting the National Games in 2021 in the state in a big manner,” he said.
In terms of infrastructure, required for the National Youth Games, Uttar Pradesh is quite rich as world class sporting centres are available in Allahabad, Saifai, Lucknow and Kanpur. “We need minimum alteration to have some new sporting infrastructure as we already have enough places in the state to conduct the Games,” Pandey told the daily.
The only major sporting event the state has hosted has been the 2016 Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup, when the Akhilesh Yadav-led government fully financed the event and spent millions for the construction of a new hockey stadium in Gomti Nagar area of Lucknow and upgradation of the existing stadium at the Guru Govind Singh Sports College here.
