Khelo India Youth Games becomes first digital games

The 2020 Khelo India Games created history even before the first competition got under way here on January 12.

If not the world's, they became India's first digital games, going completely paperless, finishing all their processes on their high-tech digital platform. Indeed, representatives from each state were given a unique ID, allowing them to create a username and a password to update details of all their athletes, officials and volunteers.

It was an elaborate and foolproof process, not giving any scope for confusion or chaos; this ensured that a gigantic event like the KIYG began without any heartburn and is being organised without any hitch.

Sandip Pradhan, Director General of the Sports Authority of India, said. "It wasn't simply about registering the over 10,000 people here. We shortlisted every contingent and every individual got a confirmation on the portal itself.

"In addition, each person involved in the Games received an SMS too, confirming their participation, their hotel reservations and their air tickets. Details regarding local transport in Guwahati were also shared via SMS," the DG commented.

The Khelo Games took up this initiative to make them an environmentally-friendly event.

It wasn't just state representatives who were involved. National Sports Federations, the School Games Federation of India and the Central Board of Secondary Education too nominated their athletes for various individual games on the portal.

They also nominated the technical officials for their own games, just like the local Assam state association nominated the volunteers for the competition. At the click of the mouse, basic information about every Khelo India athlete, including their eligibility, their performance history has now become part of a screened record.

The same IDs can be used for registering participants for future Khelo India Youth Games too, making everybody's task that much simpler.

( With inputs from IANS )