Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu will inaugurate the second edition of Khelo India University Games on Sunday, April 24 that will see 4,500 athletes from 410 universities compete in various events, Youth Empowerment & Sports Minister KC Narayana Gowda said Friday.
The games will be held till May 3, Gowda told a news conference.
He said that the games will cost around Rs 62 crore and all arrangements are being made to ensure that all events are organised well. More than 8,000 people involved in various events will be in the city and more than 1,000 athletes are already here, the minister said.
Apart from Naidu, Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will take part in the inaugural.
Owing to an increase in Covid-19 cases, Gowda said that double dose vaccination is compulsory for all athletes participating at the games. Covid tests will be conducted and isolation facilities have also been set up.
Accommodation is arranged in 2,800 rooms at various hotels in the city, government guest houses, Sri Sri Sri Ravishankar's ashram and Jain University. As many as 280 cars, 160 electric and Volvo buses are also deployed to ferry passengers, he said.
The games were scheduled to be held last year, but were called off due to the Covid pandemic, Gowda said.
As expenses for the games, Centre has released Rs 34.75 crore of which Rs 15 crore is to ensure basic facilities and Rs 27 crore is released by the state government, according to Gowda.
During the games, 261 gold, 261 silver and 365 bronze medals will be distributed to winning athletes of various universities, he added.
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