Press Release: Press Information Bureau

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports

Empowering Women through Sports: Khelo India Dus ka Dum provides platform to untapped women talent

Posted On: 11 MAR 2023 11:02AM by PIB Mumbai

Mumbai, March 11, 2023

Empowering Women through Sports. That is the grand mission which inspires Khelo India Dus Ka Dum. Yes, the Department of Sports, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is organizing the Khelo India Dus Ka Dum event from March 10 to 31. The event, being conducted as a celebration of the International Women’s Day 2023, was launched by Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Singh Thakur at a mega opening ceremony at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi yesterday. The tournament kicked off simultaneously in more than 50 cities of the country. This is the first time that such a sports initiative is happening to celebrate the international event and the Union Ministry has sanctioned a total budget of Rs. 1 crore to conduct the tournament.

Riding on the success of the multiple Khelo India women’s leagues happening across the country since several months, the Dus ka Dum initiative will provide even more exposure to thousands of women across the nation. There will be close to 15,000 athletes participating in the tournament in more than 50 cities located across 26 states of India from 10^th to 31^st March, across a total of 10 sports.

As an important facilitator in this event, Sports Authority of India Regional Centre Mumbai along with the various state associations is organizing Khelo India Dus ka Dum tournament 2023 in selected cities of Maharashtra. 10 associations are organizing events across disciplines including Archery, Athletics, Fencing, Kho-Kho, Hockey, Judo, Wushu, Swimming, Weightlifting and Yoga for the women athletes across four cities of Maharashtra, namely Mumbai, Pune, Amravati and Aurangabad.

Eminent athletes and leaders have shown their support for the upcoming games as they shall be gracing the events as guests of honour acting as further encouragement to our woman and girl athletes. The main purpose of organising these tournaments is to provide a platform to the woman athletes who were unable to participate in national/state level competitions and ensure that competitive sports reach untapped geographical areas.

Apart from this, Sports Authority of India, Regional Centre Mumbai is organizing multiple events at NCOE Mumbai (Kandivali), NCOE Aurangabad, STC Peddem (Goa), STC Ponda (Goa) and various Akharas to mark the celebration of Women’s Day. On 9th March 2023, SAI NCOE Mumbai organized fun events like Kho-Kho, Cricket and Hockey for the girl athletes as well as the staff of NCOE Mumbai. A friendly match was organized between NCOE Mumbai’s Girls hockey team vs. Republicans of Mumbai team where the chief guest was Mrs. Helen Mary (Ex India Goalkeeper and Arjuna awardee). NCOE Mumbai also felicitated its meritorious girl athletes who performed splendidly at the recently concluded women’s senior national’s hockey tournament.

The respective state governments in the administrative zone of SAI RC Mumbai viz. Maharashtra, Goa and UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu have also organized multiple events across various districts from 10^th March to 25^th March to mark the women’s day celebration.

Maharashtra Government has organized events like Marathon, Yoga, Badminton, Table Tennis and Archery across 36 districts of the state. Fun events for the women office staff and felicitation of the meritorious athletes are also being organized by the state sports department.

In Goa and UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, the respective state governments have also organized games like Karate, Athletics, Table Tennis and Chess, with more than 1000 participants expected across some of the events.

The Khelo India Centres and the Khelo India Accredited Academies in the states are planning to organize multiple events as part of women’s day celebrations. The coming two weeks will be remembered as a celebration of Nari Shakti of India. It will help promote sports at a grassroot level, apart from providing encouragement to women across all walks of life.