Panchakula: Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated Khelo India Youth Games 2021 on Saturday at Panchakula in Haryana. Khelo India Youth Games 2021 got off to a rousing start here during a high octane Opening Ceremony. Amit Shah described Haryana as India’s sports capital at the inauguration of Khelo India Youth Games 2021 at Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex in Panchakula.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal and Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Thakur led the power-packed audience at the magnificent Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex, which will witness most of the battles for medals over the next 10 days. Competitions began in various sports on Saturday, including badminton, volleyball, kabaddi, gatka and football.

The entire country is not only proud of Haryana’s athletes but also admires them all. Over the past four years, Khelo India has given a platform to athletes from across the country to showcase their potential. If you have the talent, there is no force stopping you to graduate from the grassroots level to the state, national, or even the international level, he said.

Over 4,700 athletes, including 2,262 girls, will be jostling for gold and glory over the next 10 days in 25 exciting sports, including five indigenous games. The race for supremacy will get underway on Sunday itself, with as many as 32 gold medals in weight-lifting, wrestling, cycling, yoga asana, and gatka up for grabs.

Haryana CM Manohar Lal in his address at the opening ceremony said that Khelo India Youth Games is not just a sporting competition but also a melange of cultures because when athletes come here from all over the country they don’t just bring their sporting skills but also bring their culture with them. The cultural exchange is a wonderful example of the vision of Honourable PM of Ek Bharat, Shresth Bharat, where people across the country come together as one and make the nation strong.

Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur said these Games have ensured that athletes get all the support they need. Be it the funding to Khelo India athletes or the Out of Pocket allowance of Rs 10K /month and training facilities or the personalized support to elite athletes through TOPS. As athletes, all you need to do is to play well, you don’t have to worry about your requirements that will be taken care of by us, he said.

A 90 minute electrifying show enthralled the packed stadium, with popular Punjabi and Hindi rapper Dilin Nair, better known as Raftaar, performing as the show-stopper. Raftaar enlivened the evening with his rendition of the Khelo India anthem Ab Ki Baar Haryana, raising the spirits of each and every one.

Khelo India Youth Games 2021 popular mascots, Vijaya the Tiger and Jaya the Blackbuck, came dancing into the arena, setting the tone for the evening. The loudest cheers were, however, reserved for Haryana’s own mascot, Dhakad the Bull. It was wheeled into the Stadium on a tractor to the catchy strains of Hum, Hum, Hum, the original Khelo India anthem.

Several eminent athletes including Olympic medallist, were among those who attended the programme to motivate the young participants. Among the several other dignitaries who lent political heft to the occasion included Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sport Nitin Pramanik, Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker Gianchand Gupta, Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, and Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs Sandeep Singh.