NEW DELHI: India has set itself on the path of becoming a strong sporting nation, with the inaugural edition of the
Khelo India School Games
(
KISG
) providing an excellent launchpad to the country's young and promising athletes to showcase their talent at the national level.
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Narendra Modi's ambitious vision to make sports more popular across the nation and treat the programme as the first step towards making India a strong contender at the Olympic level, ended on a resounding note on Friday, with the celebrated sportspersons hailing the KISG as a "game changer" for the Indian sports.
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After an intense battle among the participating states and their athletes, Haryana emerged as the overall champions, finishing with 102 medals, which included 38 gold, 26 silver and 38 bronze medals. It was a three-way fight between Haryana, Maharashtra and the hosts Delhi vying for the top honours, but the boy and girl boxers from Haryana produced a dominant show on the concluding day of the Games to pip their rivals at the post.
Maharashtra finished the KISG with 111 medals, but due to their lower gold medal count (36), they had to contend with the second spot. Delhi finished the Games at the third position with 94 medals, which included 25 gold, 29 silver and 40 bronze.
Starting the day a gold behind Maharashtra, Haryana pugilists cornered 10 of 26 gold medals on offer as the state athletes accounted for overall 15 gold in different disciplines, including two in judo and one each from archery, football and hockey. Six of Haryana's boxers finished with silver. The winner's trophy was presented by sports minister
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Haryana's education, tourism and parliamentary affairs minister
Ramvilas Sharma
.
In the badminton competitions, Manipur's Maisnam Meiraba won the gold in the boys' singles event with a 16-21, 21-14, 21-18 victory over Uttar Pradesh's Akash Yadav. In the girls' event, Maharashtra's
Malvika Bansod
won the title clash with a facile 21-12, 12-10 win over Chhattisgarh's Aakarshi Kashyap.
In football, Haryana girls beat Manipur eves 5-4 for the gold medal, while Mizoram edged past Punjab 3-2 in a close boys' summit clash. Haryana also figured among medals in judo with two of the four gold coming into their kitty besides four bronze. In archery, Haryana emerged as the overall champion with five medals, including one gold, two silver and two bronze.
In gymnastics, Uttar Pradesh's Mohammed Anas added a fourth gold to his kitty by nailing the horizontal bars event with his genial presence. The Allahabadbased athlete, who had won the allaround gold on the opening day, claimed the vault and pommel horse titles on Wednesday. Jammu and Kashmir's
Bavleen Kaur
stole the limelight in rhythmic gymnastics with two gold in ribbon and clubs and a bronze in ball to add to the silver she won in the all-around on Thursday. The Jammu girl's four medalhaul lifted her state to the 19th place on the medal charts with five medals in all.
In weightlifting, Bhartveer of Delhi and Manipur's Arambam
Anju Devi
won gold medals in the boys' and girls' over-69kg and over-94kg class respectively. Anju Devi's gold on the final morning of the KISG gave Manipur its fifth weightlifting gold of the Games. Manipur were adjudged the top team with five gold and one silver, though Maharashtra had 19 medals, of which three were gold.
In hockey, Odisha beat Punjab 2-1 in the boys' final, while Haryana took the girls' honour beating Jharkhand by an identical margin.
IDENTIFYING TALENT THROUGH KISGThe Khelo India School Games (KISG) scheme will be implemented through a three-tier structure comprising a talent identification and development committee (TIDC) for each sports discipline, a talent screening committee (TSC) and a high-powered committee (HPC)…
o The focus will be on all sports which will be part of the 2024 and 2028 Olympics, with higher emphasis on disciplines in which where India has higher probability of winning an Olympic medal.
o Selected athletes will be attached to accredited institutions which will look after their training, stay and education.
o In the first year, Rs 50 crore will be earmarked annually for 1000 athletes. Every year, 1000 more athletes will be added in the scheme. A central monitoring mechanism will be set up at the SAI headquarters.
o National competitions involving schools, colleges, universities and NSFs will serve as avenues for talent identification. Trials will be conducted by sports-specific scouts. The TIDC will comprise eminent athletes and coaches, national observers, talent scouts, sports scientists and national sports federations' representatives.
o Approximately 538 talented athletes will be selected during the KISG from the targeted 1000 athletes under the scheme for 2017-18. The rest will be selected by the talent scouting committee. Cycling, fencing, rowing and table tennis will be additional sports apart from those in the scheme.
TALENT BREAK-UPAs many as 277 boys and 261 girls from the 16 disciplines will be automatically selected for scholarships as under:
Archery (16): Semi-finalists in each event (8 boys and 8 girls)
Athletics (64): Top-2 in each event plus any exceptional talent (32 boys and 32 girls)
Badminton (18): Top-3 in each category (9 boys and 9 girls)
Basketball (20): 10 boys and 10 girls to be picked by Talent Selection Committee
Boxing (52): Top-2 in each category (26 boys and 26 girls)
Football (20): 10 boys and 10 girls to be picked by Talent Selection Committee
Gymnastics (34): Top-2 in each category (14 boys and 20 girls)
Hockey (40): 20 boys and 20 girls to be picked by Talent Selection Committee
Judo (32): Top-2 in each category (16 boys and 16 girls)
Kabaddi (20): 10 boys and 10 girls to be picked by the Talent Selection Committee
Kho-Kho (20): 10 boys and 10 girls to be picked by the Talent Selection Committee
Shooting (32): All finalists in each event (16 boys and 16 girls)
Swimming (58): Top-2 in each category (30 boys and 20 girls)
Volleyball (20): 10 boys and 10 girls to be picked by Talent Selection Committee
Weightlifting (32): Top-2 in each category (16 boys and 16 girls)
Wrestling (60): Top-2 in each category (40 boys and 20 girls)