The 6th Khelo India Youth Games 2023 was held from January 19-31, 2024 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
Opening Ceremony: Khelo India Youth Games 2023
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the opening ceremony of Khelo India Youth Games 2023 on 19 January 2024.
- This was the first time that Khelo India Youth Games were held in South India. The Games were played across four cities of Tamil Nadu, namely Chennai, Madurai, Trichy and Coimbatore.
Mascot:
» The mascot of Khelo India Youth Games 2023 was ‘Veera Mangai’.
- Rani Velu Nachiyar, fondly called Veera Mangai, was an Indian queen who waged a war against British colonial rule. The mascot symbolizes the valour and spirit of Indian women, embodying the strength of women power.
» The logo for the games incorporates the figure of poet Thiruvalluvar.
Sports and Participation:
- Over 5600 athletes participated in this edition of Khelo India Youth Games, spread across 13 days in 15 venues with 26 sporting disciplines, over 275 competitive events and 1 demo sport.
- The 26 sporting disciplines were a diverse mix of conventional sports such as Football, Volleyball, Badminton etc. and traditional sports such as Kalaripayattu, Gatka, Thang ta, Kabaddi and Yogasana.
- Silambam, a traditional sport of Tamil Nadu, was introduced as a demo sport for the first time in the history of Khelo India Youth Games.
- The total participation at the games was 7234 including athletes, technical officials, volunteers, etc.
Closing Ceremony:
Union Minister for Youth Affairs & Sports and Information & Broadcasting Shri Anurag Singh Thakur presented the trophy at the closing ceremony of Khelo India Youth Games 2023 Tamil Nadu in Chennai on January 31, 2024.
Top Three States:
Maharashtra finished in the top position with a total of 158 medals (57 gold, 48 silver, 53 bronze) while Tamil Nadu and Haryana took the 2nd and 3rd positions respectively, bagging 98 medals (38 gold, 21 silver, 39 bronze) and 103 medals (35 gold, 22 silver, 46 bronze).
Some Records:
- A total 30 overall meet records and national youth records have been created in this edition of the games.
- In athletics, 8 records have been created while in weightlifting, 22 records. While athletes from Haryana made 7 records, Maharashtra made a total of 6.
- Sanjana of Haryana created 5 records in the 76kg weightlifting division while Keerthana of Tamil Nadu made 3 records in the 81kg weightlifting division. Aarti Tatguni of Maharashtra also created 3 records in the 49kg weightlifting division.
- Swimmer Vritti Agarwal of Telangana meanwhile became one of the best athletes of the games, winning a total of 5 gold medals for herself – 200m butterfly, 1500m freestyle, 800m freestyle, 400m freestyle and 200m freestyle.
Khelo India Youth Games 2023 Medal Tally:
| Ranking | State | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Maharashtra | 57 | 48 | 53 | 158 |
| 2 | Tamil Nadu | 38 | 21 | 39 | 98 |
| 3 | Haryana | 35 | 22 | 46 | 103 |
| 4 | Delhi | 13 | 18 | 25 | 56 |
| 5 | Rajasthan | 13 | 17 | 17 | 47 |
| 6 | Telangana | 13 | 4 | 7 | 24 |
| 7 | Uttar Pradesh | 11 | 13 | 18 | 42 |
| 8 | Punjab | 11 | 13 | 15 | 39 |
| 9 | Kerala | 11 | 9 | 15 | 35 |
| 10 | Manipur | 10 | 11 | 10 | 31 |
| 11 | Karnataka | 9 | 19 | 19 | 47 |
| 12 | West Bengal | 9 | 8 | 11 | 28 |
| 13 | Andhra Pradesh | 7 | 9 | 11 | 27 |
| 14 | Madhya Pradesh | 6 | 12 | 12 | 30 |
| 15 | Gujarat | 6 | 7 | 12 | 25 |
| 16 | Odisha | 6 | 7 | 8 | 21 |
| 17 | Assam | 5 | 8 | 11 | 24 |
| 18 | Chandigarh | 5 | 5 | 7 | 17 |
| 19 | Uttarakhand | 5 | 3 | 8 | 16 |
| 20 | Jharkhand | 3 | 3 | 5 | 11 |
| 21 | Bihar | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 22 | Himachal Pradesh | 1 | 5 | 8 | 14 |
| 23 | Jammu and Kashmir | 1 | 4 | 2 | 7 |
| 24 | Meghalaya | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 25 | Chhattisgarh | 0 | 6 | 2 | 8 |
| 26 | Tripura | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 27 | Mizoram | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 27 | Nagaland | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 27 | Puducherry | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 30 | Arunachal Pradesh | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 31 | Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 31 | Goa | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Grand Total | 278 | 278 | 371 | 927 |
About Sports for All (SFA):
- Sports For All (SFA) is India’s largest tech-enabled multi-sport grassroots competition platform.
- The vision is to make youth fall in love with sports through inspiring and joyful sporting experiences.
- Founders Rishikesh Joshi and Vishwas Choksi, since the inception of SFA in 2015, have determinedly focused on transforming and mobilizing school sporting championships in the country, by providing an inclusive, diverse, safe, and best-in-class platform for the youth to realize their fullest potential through sports.