The State-level Khel Mahakumbh will start from December 2 this year. The event will conclude on December 29. The venues for the competition in Dehradun will be the Parade Ground and Pavilion Ground. The mascot for this year’s Khel Mahakumbh is a musk deer.
The boys and girls in the age group under-12, 14, 17 and 21 will participate in the competition.
Around 23,000 players in total are likely to participate in the competition. Around 8,000 players at Nyay Panchayat level, 12,000 at development block level and 3000 from district level are expected to participate this year.
Women will play at district and state levels. Persons with disabilities will participate in athletics and badminton at state level only. The age bracket for women and persons with disabilities is 21-25 years.
The recipient of the first prize at district level will be given cash reward of Rs 700. Participants who will secure second and third positions will be rewarded Rs 500 and Rs 300 respectively. Three new sports--swimming, archery and fencing have been added for the first time this year. The three new sports will be organised at state level only.
According to the officials concerned, the objective of the Khel Mahakumbh is to attract the youth of Uttarakhand towards sports and play ground in keeping with the spirit of ‘from e-culture to p-culture’ that is, from electronic culture to playground culture.