PM Modi to inaugurate National Games in Goa on October 26

Panaji: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 37th National Games in Goa on October 26, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Friday.

Talking to reporters in the presence of state sports minister Govind Gaude and Amitabh Sharma, chairman of the National Games Technical Conduct Committee of the Indian Olympic Association, Sawant said the event in Goa would be unique.

Modi will inaugurate the Games at 6.30 pm on October 26 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda, he said.

The event, featuring 43 disciplines, would be held at 28 venues across Panaji, Mapusa, Vasco, Ponda, Margao and Colva beach, Sawant said.

More than 10,000 athletes, 49.9 percent of them women, would take part in the Games, he added.

The event will also have five indigenous sports from Goa, the chief minister informed.

“The previous edition of the National Games, hosted in Gujarat, featured 36 disciplines, while Kerala's 2015 edition had 33 disciplines,” he said.

The Olympic-style multisport event, featuring participation from 28 states and 8 union territories, will end on November 9.

Cycling and golf events will be held in Delhi, the chief minister said.

The National Games this time will also see several new sports disciplines, including beach football, roll ball, golf, sepaktakraw, sqay martial arts, kalaripayattu and pencak silat.

Additionally, yachting and taekwondo are making a return to the Games after exclusion from the last edition.

The sports of `lagori' and `gatka' have been included as demonstration sports, adding a unique and cultural dimension, the chief minister said.

The organizing committee has already unveiled `MOGA', the mascot of the Games.