Khelo India Youth Games 2024: Five things unique to the sixth edition

The Khelo India Youth Games KIYG is a flagship competition where the future stars in various sports disciplines showcase their skills and are then nurtured to achieve excellenceThe muchawaited Khelo India Youth Games 2024 in Tamil Nadu will take place from January 1931 with competitions being held across four cities Chennai Trichy Madurai and CoimbatoreHere is a look at five unique features of Khelo India Youth Games 2024 in Tamil Nadu that make the sixth edition of the Youth Games specialFirst time in South IndiaThis is a first for South India as well as for Tamil Nadu when it comes to the Khelo India Youth Games First envisaged as the Khelo India School Games back in 2018 the Games have grown in magnitude and have been renamed as the Khelo India Youth GamesThis edition of the Games will see the participation of over 5500 athletes from across all the Indian states and Union Territories as per a press release from Khelo India Youth Games Tamil NaduHistorical relevance and Woman as a mascot for the first timeMascots for major multidiscipline games are normally designed around national animals or birds But Tamil Nadu is the first state to showcase its rich traditional history and is looking to educate the younger generation about the bravery of legendary freedom fighter Rani Velu Nachiyar who is also referred to as Veera Mangai the brave womanRani Velu Nachiyar was the first Indian queen to go to war against the East India Company and her contributions have been projected in school books to encourage children to learn the history and contribution of Veera Mangai in the freedom struggleSquash making its Khelo India debutThere has been a special bond between squash and Chennai ever since the Squash Rackets Federation of India established its flagship India Squash Academy in the city way back in 1990 The state has since produced numerous national and international stars and also hosts bigticket squash events including the Squash World Cup last year And keeping with the citys deep connection with the game Khelo India has introduced the fastpaced racquet sport to this editions listSquash has also been shortlisted as one of the five new sports to be added to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics programme Hence adding the sport to Khelo India will also help identify new talent and broaden the base of the game across the countrySilambam makes debut as a demo sportTamil Nadus pride and one of the oldest weaponbased martial arts forms Silambam has been practiced in Tamil Nadu since the fourth century BC and has extensive reference in Tamil Sangam literature Named after its primary weapon the bamboo staff this martial art form has been recognised by the Union Sports Ministry under the Promotion of inclusiveness through sports initiativeAll Khelo India venues will be displaying Silambam and close to 1000 players will be showcasing their mastery of this unique form of martial art as a demo sportTamil Nadu to host all sports disciplines within the StateIn the last two editions of the Khelo India Youth Games a few sports disciplines shooting and cycling had to be held outside the host state due to a lack of infrastructure While shooting and cycling were held in Delhi during the Youth Games held in Haryana cycling was again shifted to Delhi when Madhya Pradesh played host in 2022But Tamil Nadu will be the first state in the last three editions to be able to host all the sports disciplines including cycling which will be conducted at the stateoftheart velodrome at the Tamil Nadu Physical Education and Sports University TNPESU in Melakottaiyur Shooting events will be held in Velachery and Alamadi where the finest budding shooters from the state as well as the country will be aiming for the bulls eyeWith agency inputs