Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced on Saturday that the government’s flagship Khelo India programme will be expanded to include annual Khelo India Games dedicated exclusively to the northeastern states. This announcement was made during the Rising Northeast Investors Summit held at the Bharat Mandapam. The minister stated that the eight northeastern states—Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura—will host these games on a rotational basis. Mandaviya explained that the Khelo India Northeast Games, similar to the Khelo India Youth Games and University Games, will be held every year to identify talent, develop potential, and provide a platform to showcase traditional games. Mandaviya emphasized India’s ambition to host the Commonwealth Games in 2030 and the Olympics in 2036, highlighting the country’s suitability for organizing international competitions due to its vast and diverse nature. He pointed out the transformation in the Northeast’s sports industry and ecosystem, predicting that the region will soon attract global sports events. He noted that many of India’s top athletes hail from the Northeast and are representing the country in major international competitions, pushing Indian sports forward. Mandaviya also highlighted the significant increase in sports infrastructure in the region, with 86 projects currently in use. Under the Khelo India scheme, Rs 439 crore was allocated in 2021 for 64 sports infrastructure projects across the Northeast, including synthetic turfs, multipurpose halls, swimming pools, and hostels. The region is also home to 250 Khelo India Centres (KICs) that are training over 8,000 athletes. The sports minister reaffirmed the government’s commitment to a large-scale talent identification drive, where performances recorded on phones can be uploaded to the National Sports Repository System (NSRS) portal. The Sports Authority of India will then send scouts to assess the athletes and potentially induct them into either the Khelo India Centre or the National Centre of Excellence, depending on their potential. In 2023, the northeast region hosted the Khelo India University Games Ashtalakshmi. (With PTI Inputs)