Khelo India supporting senior as well as junior athletes: Indian shuttler PV Sindhu

BENGALURU: Ace Indian badminton player PV Sindhu on Thursday said that the Khelo India initiative is helping not only the senior but also the junior athletes.

The Khelo India University Games 2025 will be hosted in Jaipur, Rajasthan, this November, it was announced on Wednesday. Poornima University and Rajasthan University will jointly host KIUG 2025.

Speaking to the media about KIUG, PV Sindhu said, “The Prime Minister has always supported and virtually talks to the athletes before we go to the Olympics. The entire government of India has been supportive, and so has the Sports Authority of India in Bengaluru. Khelo India is also supporting senior as well as junior athletes.”

This will be the fifth iteration of the Khelo India University Games, an integral part of the Indian government’s Khelo India initiative.

Over 4000 athletes from more than 200 universities across India are expected to participate in KIUG 2025, which, like previous editions, will feature at least 20 disciplines.

The multi-sport event is for Under-25 athletes and follows the Under-18 Khelo India Youth Games that took place in Bihar in May this year.

“These Games offer great opportunities for athletes who seek a national platform to impress our numerous scouts eyeing the best talents in the country,” Mansukh Mandaviya, India’s sports and youth affairs minister, said as quoted by Olympics.com.

Rajasthan will be hosting the KIUG for the first time.

The inaugural Khelo India University Games was held back in 2020 with Bhubaneswar, Odisha, playing host. Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh were the venues for the next two editions before NorthEast took centre stage.

A total of 770 medals – 240 gold, 240 silver and 290 bronze – were on offer at the 11-day KIUG 2024. Over 200 universities competed for the KIUG 2024 title with around 4500 athletes taking part in 20 sports.

Chandigarh University had won the team championships at KIUG 2024, co-hosted by Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim, Nagaland and Tripura.

Panjab University have won the KIUG title twice while Jain University were the other champions. (ANI)