Khelo India Games to be held from June 4, five new sports added
The fourth season of the Khelo India Youth Games will be conducted from June 4 to 13, after being postponed several times due to COVID-19. Panchkula, Ambala, Chandigarh, Shahabad, and Delhi will host the Khelo India Youth Games 2021 where a total of 5,100 participants will take part.
Five indigenous games have also been introduced to the current edition to promote these sports at the grassroots level: gatka, thang-ta, kalarippayattu, mallakhamb, and yogasana. The Khelo India Youth Games were last held in Guwahati, Assam, in January 2020. The competition was divided into two age groups: under-17 and under-21.
However, the KIYG will be held in the under-18 age group this year. The Khelo India Youth Games will be hosted in different cities for the first time, outside of the January window. KIYG 2021 was supposed to take place in January 2021, however, it was postponed because of the COVID-19 epidemic.
The first edition, known as the Khelo India School Games, took place in New Delhi in 2018. The 2019 KIYG was held in Pune, Maharashtra, while the 2020 edition was held in Guwahati, Assam. Haryana won the most medals in the first edition and ended second in the next two editions, trailing only Maharashtra.