Host Maharashtra topped the medals table with a whopping 85 gold, 62 silver and 81 bronze medals in the Khelo India Youth Games that concluded at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi, here on Sunday.
Quite remarkably, Maharashtra not only won the lion’s share of gold medals ahead of Haryana (62), Delhi (48), Karnataka (30), Tamil Nadu (27), Uttar Pradesh (23), Punjab (23), Gujarat (15), West Bengal (13) and Kerala (12) but also topped the silver and bronze tallies.
Maharashtra won a total of 228 medals, while Haryana and Delhi followed with 178 and 136 respectively.
“We are happy that Maharashtra is No. 1. We want Hindustan to be No.1. That is our goal,” said the Minister of Sports and Youth Welfare of Maharashtra, Vinod Tawde, at a crisp closing ceremony.
On behalf of the Maharashtra government, it was also announced that there would be one hour of sports every day for students in all schools in the State.
The Director-General of Sports Authority of India (SAI), Neelam Kapoor, congratulated Maharashtra on the excellent organisation and expressed gratitude for taking care of about 10,000 participants, including about 6,000 athletes, from across the country.
Union Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar presented the trophies.
The unanimous voice of the speakers was pegged around the theme of the Games ‘ kheloge toh khiloge ’ (if you play, you will prosper) driving home the importance of sports for a healthy society.
Of the 29 teams that won medals, it was a very encouraging sign that 25 won at least one of the 403 gold medals that were at stake.
Quite thoughtfully, the volunteers were felicitated with a shower of golden graffiti in the end, as about 1,000 of them had made the Games memorable and smooth for the participants.
