The National Games — in its 36th edition — returned after a seven-year gap when Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared the Games open at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium on Thursday. Around 7,000 athletes from all corners of India are competing in 36 disciplines.
The biennial event was earlier scheduled in Goa in 2016 but the delay caused by various reasons, followed by the Covid-19 pandemic, put a spanner in the works before Gujarat offered to host the event in 2022.
Technically, the tournament has already begun with table tennis events being hosted between 20 and 24 September with a few other disciplines being run simultaneously as well. The opening ceremony took place at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Thursday, while most of the sporting events will commence from today onwards. The Games will end on 12 October.
While Ahmedabad hosts the opening ceremony and sporting events, the Games will take place across five more cities — Gandhinagar, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot and Bhavnagar. Notably, the track cycling events will take place in the capital New Delhi at the Indira Gandhi Stadium’s Velodrome.
With athletes competing from 28 states and eight union territories, along with Services, there will be 36 sporting disciplines in action. The games this year also includes mallakhambh, yogasana and kabaddi.
The disciplines namely are (in alphabetical order): Aquatics, archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, beach sports, boxing, canoeing, cycling, fencing, football, golf, gymnastics, hockey, judo, kabaddi, kho kho, lawn bowls, mallakhambh, netball, roller sports, rowing, rugby 7s, shooting, soft tennis, softball, squash, table tennis, tennis, triathlon, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, wushu and yogasana.
The Games will be televised live on Doordarshan Sports and the YouTube channel of Prasar Bharti Sports.
What’s the schedule for the National Games?
Table Tennis: September 20 to 24
Kabaddi: September 26 to October 1
Netball: September 26 to 30
Rugby 7s: September 28 to 30
Shooting (rifle and pistol): September 29 to October 3
Shooting (shotgun): September 30 to October 7
Wrestling: September 30 to October 2
Triathlon: September 30 to October 2
Archery: September 30 to October 6
Kho-Kho: September 30 to October 4
Lawn Bowls: September 26 to October 3
Tennis: September 29 to October 5
Roller sports – Skateboarding: September 30 and October 1
Roller sports – Skating: September 30 and October 2
Fencing: September 30 to October 4
Gymnastics: September 30 to October 4
Weightlifting: September 30 to October 4
Rowing: September 30 to October 3
Football (Women): October 1 to 10
Cycling (track): October 1 to 4
Squash: October 1 to 5
Badminton: October 1 to 6
Basketball 3×3: October 1 to 3
Basketball 5×5: October 1 to 6
Football (Men): October 2 to 11
Aquatics: October 2 to 8
Hockey: October 2 to 9
Boxing: October 5 to 12
Yogasana: October 6 to 11
Golf: October 6 to 9
Mallakhambh: October 7 to 11
Soft Tennis: October 7 to 11
Judo: October 7 to 11
Cycling (road): October 8 and 9
Wushu: October 8 to 11
Canoeing: October 10 and 11
Athletics: September 30 to October 4
Softball: October 7 to 11
Beach Volleyball: October 6 to 9
Volleyball: October 8 to 12
