Amit Shah to lay foundation stones for various development projects in Panchkula

Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah will lay the foundation stone of various development projects in Haryana's Panchkula on Saturday evening and inaugurate Khelo India Youth Games-2021.

Both the events are organised at Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex in Panchkula where the Home Minister will lay the foundation stone of various development projects at around 7 pm.

The Minister will inaugurate Khelo India Youth Games-2021 at 7.30 pm.

After being postponed thrice due to COVID-19, the Khelo India Youth Games-2021 is being held from June 4 to June 13 across multiple venues. Haryana will be hosting the bulk of the events.

In its third edition, the Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) is the flagship event of the Indian government's Khelo India initiative, designed to promote sports at the grassroots levels in the country.

This year, all of India's 36 states and Union Territories will be participating at the KIYG for the first time. Close to 4,700 athletes, including 2,262 women, will compete for medals across the 25 different sports.

Host Haryana will be fielding the biggest contingent with 398 athletes, followed by last edition's champions Maharashtra with 357 and Delhi with 339. The Andaman and Nicobar is sending the smallest contingent consisting of six athletes, all cyclists, while Ladakh will have seven competitors.

Upcoming badminton player Unnati Hooda, who became the youngest-ever Indian to win a BWF Super 100 tournament after clinching the Odisha Open title earlier this year, will be representing hosts Haryana. The 15-year-old has already made the Indian squad for the Commonwealth Games 2022.

However, ace long jumper Shaili Singh and runner Priya Mohan, both of whom won medals at the under-20 world championships last year, will be giving the KIYG a miss since the dates clashing with other events.

In addition to the 20 sports featured in the 2020 edition held in Guwahati, five new indigenous sports, mallakhamb, gatka, kalaripayattu, thang-ta and yogasana, have been added to the sports list for the 2021 edition.

Medals will be on offer in 264 different events.

(ANI)

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