Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports teams visit the JAIN Global Campus to overview the Khelo India University Games ’22 preparations

By India Education Diary Bureau Admin On Mar 20, 2022

Bengaluru: The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports team visited JAIN Global Campus and JAIN Sports School last week to review the preparedness of the Khelo India University Games (KIUG) 2022. Led by Smt. Sujata Chaturvedi, IAS, Hon’ble Secretary to Government of India, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports and another team led by Smt. Amar Jyothi, Director- SAI & chairperson- GTCC & Dr. Baljit Singh Sekhon, Jt. Secretary- YA&S, AIU & Co-Chairperson- GTCC met the competition managers and discussed the preparedness of the event in presence of Shri Rohit Bhardwaj, Secretary- SAI.

Hon’ble Secretary, Government of India was accompanied by other officers including Dr. Shalini Rajneesh, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary to Government, Department of Youth Empowerment and Sports, Govt. of Karnataka, Dr. HN Gopala Krishna, IAS, Commissioner, Department of Youth Empowerment and Sports, Smt. Radhika Shreeman, Executive Director, SAI and Smt. Ritu A Pathik, Regional Director, SAI, Bengaluru and many others. Dr. Chenraj Roychand, Chancellor, JAIN (Deemed-to-be-University), and the team welcomed the officials and shared detailed updates on the ground preparations for the upcoming KIUG.

Dr. Baljit Singh Sekhon, Jt. Secretary, YA&S – AIU & Co-Chairman- GTCC; Dr. Sankar U V, Director- Sports, JAIN (Deemed-to-be University) & Member Secretary- GTCC; Dr. Jeethendra Shetty, Deputy Director, DYES & Member- GTCC; Shri Rohit Bhardwaj, Secretary – SAI; Smt. Radhika Sreeman, Executive Director, SAI; Smt. Amar Jyoti, Director SAI & Chairman –GTCC; Smt. Ritu Pathik, Regional Director-SAI, Bengaluru; Shri. Sibananda Mishra, Deputy Director-SAI & Member secretary-GTCC were present at the meeting. They also announced the tentative dates for the second edition of KIUG, to be held from 24th April to 3rd May 2022.

The hour-long meetings focused on the readiness of the grounds, equipment, and a special session with the competition managers regarding the participants, number of games, live telecasts, age cut-offs, and any other challenges faced by them. Thorough discussion regarding the local transportation of the participants, the requirement of Green-Corridor by the state government, etc. topics were also part of the agenda. Other varied topics include facilities at the sports stadiums, equipment for the inaugural event, invitations to the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India and other dignitaries, flow of events, pros and cons of the earmarked grounds, following COVID 19 protocols for the events, etc. were also discussed at stretch.

Speaking during the discussion session, Smt. Sujata Chaturvedi, Secretary, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Govt of India said, “KIUG is designed to encourage the Indian youth to participate in the sports and showcase their talent to the world. We must work together to make sure the arrangements are safe and favorable for the participants to ensure smooth execution of the KIUG 2022.”

Shri Rohit Bhardwaj, Secretary- SAI said, “For KIUG 2022, our key focus is adherence to the global standards of sports, maintaining a highly professional approach, fair play, and readiness for a smooth execution for this massive sporting event.” He further adds,” We are closely monitoring the progress with the JAIN Group and working together towards the same goal. So far the planning and executions are as per the speculated timeline, we have discussed a few points today and we are extending our complete support to the team for hassle-free execution of the event plans on time”.

Delighted and excited about the visit, Dr. Chenraj Roychand, Chancellor, JAIN (Deemed-to-be-University) said, “As the official hosts of KIUG, we reiterate our commitment to make this distinguished event a grand success and continue to uphold our core values of nurturing sports talent in the country. We are hopeful that KIUG will set up an array of innumerable opportunities in sports for the budding talents who will make the country proud in the global forums.”

KIUG was conceptualized by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and the foundation stone was laid by him in 2018. It was started with a vision to encourage the youth of India to take an interest in sports and identify the talents in colleges and university campuses, the 2021 edition of KIUG was a huge success. Starting this April 24th, The KIUG 2022 will be held at JAIN Global Campus, JAIN Sports School, Sri Kanteerava Stadium (Indoor & Outdoor), Hockey Stadium, Sports Authority of India (SAI) Shooting Range. Out of the 20 sports identified for KIUG, 16 games will be organized on JAIN campuses. The event is set to be attended by over 8500 participants, including over 4500 athletes from 200 universities and above. The cut-off age of the athletes for the Khelo India games is 26 years. The athletes who were born after 1997 will be considered eligible for this sporting event. This mega sporting event will be broadcasted on Doordarshan/DD Sports from 24th April – 3rd May 2021.