Khelo India Games will produce top athletes in 3-4 years, believes Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore

What's the story?

Labelling the inaugural edition of the Khelo India School Games as a tremendous success, Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore believes that the future looks bright for athletes training to represent India in the Olympics and other major tournaments.

During the Khelo India School Games at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Stadium, Rathore spoke about the capacity of the games to make the stars of tomorrow as well as the way forward.

Rathore said, "We have a panel of Dronacharya Awardees and Arjuna Awardees for the games who are part of the selection procedure and I am very sure and confident that in 3-4 years, the level of competition will be high and International as the level being broadcast today."

The background

This is the first Khelo India venture that has been introduced with the aim of finding and nurturing the next generation of sporting talent from the country.

The heart of the matter

Rathore also went on to mention the intention to have a yearly search for top players in a detailed process of selection of athletes.

He affirmed, "We will have a detailed selection process throughout the year and get the thousand best athletes from across the country. Monitoring of the athletes will be done by a dedicated team of experts and playing fields will also be monitored in order to make them better and more suited to what is actually needed."

"The players will be trained at the closest training facility to them and through these tournaments, we will have a level of competition in India similar to that of the Olympics."

What's next?

The Khelo India Games continue to search for India's talented sports stars of tomorrow and create an atmosphere for more athletes to come up the ranks.

Author's take

The idea seems like it could be the next step in making Indian athletes capable of taking on foreign opposition predominantly in big tournaments such as the Olympics.