Saina Nehwal inaugurates 18-day Khele Sanand Sports Utsav in Gujarat
Sanand (Gujarat), Sept 17 (TNT): Olympic medallist Saina Nehwal on Thursday inaugurated the Khele Sanand Sports Utsav 2026, an 18-day sporting programme covering all 105 villages of Sanand taluka and involving more than 25,000 students from over 150 schools.
Organised by the Vijayi Bharat Foundation (VBF) under its Khele Sanand initiative, the sports festival will be held from September 17 to October 7, with competitions being conducted across schools and communities in the taluka.
The festival, inaugurated at Sanskardham, features 10 sporting disciplines, including kabaddi, softball throw/kids javelin throw, sprint, cycling, kho-kho, chess, standing broad jump, badminton, volleyball and tug of war, besides a sports quiz.
Students aged between five and 17 years will participate in the under-8, under-11, under-14 and under-17 categories, with events for both boys and girls.
Winners from participating schools will progress through knockout rounds to the Grand Finale at Sanskardham on October 7.
Speaking at the inauguration, Nehwal said the initiative would provide children an opportunity to experience organised sport at a young age within their schools and communities and help promote participation and sporting culture at the grassroots.
VBF Advisor and Olympic medallist Gagan Narang said the initiative’s scale, covering 105 villages and more than 150 schools, would provide children across communities an opportunity to participate within a common sporting framework.
The programme also includes a Sports Quiz aimed at combining physical participation with awareness of sporting values, disciplines and the Olympic movement.
VBF said competition results would be digitally recorded and verified as students progress through the different stages of the sporting programme.
The event was attended by VBF Board members Jalaj Dani, Dhanraj Nathwani, Dilip Thaker and Durgesh Agarwal.
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