Poonam Nath

7th Khelo India Youth Games: First batch of Assam’s contingent departs from Guwahati today

Digital Desk: The first batch of Assam's contingent for the 7th Khelo India Youth Games, which will be held in Bihar and Delhi from May 4 to 15, departed Guwahati on Thursday.

Naba Basumatary, Assam's Chef de Mission and Assistant Director of the Directorate of Sports and Youth Welfare, confirmed that the girls' volleyball and kabaddi teams boarded the Rajdhani Express to Patna. Basumatary, along with athletes from judo, swimming, cycling, sepak takraw, and gatka, will go on Friday.

This is the first time Bihar will host the Khelo India Youth Games. Competitions will take place in five cities across the state, with New Delhi hosting events such as shooting, gymnastics, and track cycling.

Assam will take part in 17 of the 27 categories included at this year's event. The state contingent had 135 people, including 105 athletes (42 boys and 63 girls).

The Department of Sports and Youth Welfare, Assam, held a ceremonial send-off on Wednesday at the Sarusajai Sports Complex. During the event, the official team jersey was presented and distributed, and the state government formally expressed its best wishes to the contingent.

Kausar Jamil Hilaly, special secretary of the Department of Sports and Youth Welfare, attended the event as the chief guest. Among those in attendance were Olympic archer and Arjuna awardee Jayanta Talukdar, international weightlifting coach Anup Konwar, and Deputy Director of Sports and Youth Welfare Neel Harit Kausik.

Nearly 10,000 athletes from 36 states and union territories will compete in the 7th Khelo India Youth Games.

Notably, Assam will compete in swimming, weightlifting, athletics, shooting, boxing, cycling, thang-ta, table tennis, yogasana, gatka, kalaripayattu, judo, gymnastics, mallakhamb, sepak takraw, and girls' kabaddi and volleyball.

In the previous edition of the Games, held in Tamil Nadu, Assam won 24 medals and finished 17th, the state's highest performance outside of Assam.

However, Assam's best-ever performance occurred at the third edition of the Games, held in Guwahati in 2020, when the state won 76 medals, including 20 gold, and finished seventh overall.