The first ever National Youth Games (U-18) will be held in Bangalore from May 10 to 18.
Announcing this to the media after a meeting at the Vidhan Soudha here on Thursday, Governor Rameshwar Thakur and president of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) Suresh Kalmadi said various sub-committees headed by secretaries to the state government have been formed for proper conduct of the event.
The event which is expected to draw close to 5000 partcipants was scheduled to be held in 2004. Earlier, it was decided to hold competitions in 22 disciplines. But with the addition of archery and weightlifting events, the total disciplines have gone up to 24.
Kalmadi thanked the Governor for agreeing to meet the requirements of the IOA for organising the event. According to Kalmadi, Bangalore has good infrastructure for conducting sports. "But it has remained unutilised for a long time. With this event, the infrastructure would be improved further. Many stadiums including Kanteerava would be upgraded," he added. Kalmadi added that the meet will serve as selection trials for the Commonwealth Youth Games scheduled to be held in Pune in October. Speaking on the occasion, Thakur assured State's full co-operation to the event.
It was estimated that about Rs 28 crore would be required for the event with Rs 14 crore already being released. KOA president K Govindaraj explained the details of expenditure for the event.