The Year 2023 saw commendable performances of Indian Sportspersons in several International Events

• India achieved a historic milestone at the Asian Games held in Hangzhou, China, clinching a total of 107 Medals (28 Gold, 38 Silver, 41 Bronze Medals). The Indian contingent shattered country’s previous record of 70 medals in the 2018 edition. Notably, athletics contributed 29 Medals, while archery and shooting accounted for 9 and 22 medals respectively.
• The success in Asian Games was followed by the triumph of the Indian contingent in the Asian Para Games which finished with historic 111 Medals including 29 Gold Medals, surpassing all previous records. The biggest haul for India came from athletics, with the Indian contingent securing 55 Medals including 18 Gold Medals.
• Indian Athletes showed exceptional performance in August, 2023, with Neeraj Chopra winning India’s first-ever Gold Medal in the prestigious World Athletics Championship. The Indian 4X400 m Relay Team had a spectacular run in the World Athletics Championship, finishing 5^th in the Finals and breaking the Asian Record on road to the finals. In chess, Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa finished second in the FIDE World Cup after a well-fought final against the World Number-1, Magnus Carlsen.
• At the Special Olympics World Summer Games 2023, Berlin, held between 17^th and 25^th June, 2023, the 280-member strong Indian contingent finished their campaign with 202 medals, including 76 Gold, 75 Silver and 51 Bronze.
• Satwiksairaj Reddy and Chirag Shetty became the first-ever Indian pair to win the prestigious Swiss Open Badminton Championship. Moreover, in the ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup 2023 held in Bhopal, India, the hosts won 7 Medals (1 Gold, 1 Silver, 5 Bronze), finishing 2^nd in the overall medal tally.

International Events hosted by India in 2023 :

• In the run-up to the prestigious FIH Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup 2023, Bhubaneswar – Rourkela, a nationwide Trophy Tour was kicked off in Bhubaneswar on 5^th December by the Chief Minister of Odisha. The coveted trophy traversed 13 states and 01 Union Territory before concluding its journey in Odisha on 25^th December. The world cup commenced on 13^th January 2023 and the finals was played on 29^th January, 2023. Germany won the tournament and Belgium won the silver.
• In a breakthrough moment for the development of motorsports in India, the first-ever MotoGP Bharat, one of the races of the prestigious MotoGP series was organized at the Buddha International Circuit, Noida. MotoGP is the top-tier motorcycle road racing event in the world where 22 riders representing 11 teams contested for the coveted title with Marzo Bezzecchi of Italy winning the inaugural MotoGP Bharat title.
• India hosted the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championship 2023 held in New Delhi during March 23, where Indian women pugilists (Lovlina Borgohain, Nikhat Zareen, Nitu Ghanghas and Saweety Boora) bagged 4 gold medals in different weight categories, and India was crowned the best team of the tournament.
• With India Chairing the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) this year, a 3-Day Sports Ministers’ Meeting and the Meeting of the SCO Expert Working Group was hosted by  Ministry of Youth Affairs and  Sports between 13^th & 15^th of March, 2023 at New Delhi, which had participation from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan, China and Tajikistan. The representatives of the Member States reaffirmed their commitment towards clean sports, a collaborative platform for the development of sports education and sports science.
• India hosted 141^st International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Mumbai, after a gap of 40 years. The IOC Session is the annual general meeting of the IOC, the apex global governing body of the Olympic Movement. The Session was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on 14^th October 2023. An important decision taken by the IOC General Body was the approval for the inclusion of Cricket in the Los Angeles Olympic Games 2028. In addition to this, the Hon’ble Prime Minister announced India’s interest in hosting the Youth Olympics 2030, and the Summer Olympics in 2036.

National Games successfully organized in Goa:

The 37^th National Games were inaugurated by Hon’ble Prime at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa on 26^th October 2023. This edition marked a significant milestone, with participation from over 10,000 sportspersons, coaches, and officials representing all States and Union Territories. Maharashtra topped the Medal tally with 228 Medals, followed by Services and Haryana.

The National Sports Day 2023 was celebrated throughout the country with the active participation of various stakeholders, including the Ministries and Departments of the Government of India, State Governments, Indian Missions abroad, educational Institutions etc. Various important initiatives were launched by this Department on the National Sports Day including the launch of the 3^rd edition of Fit India Quiz, two portals, one for the National Sports Federations and another for the Khelo India infrastructure projects.

Events under Fit India Campaign:

• After the success of 2 editions of the Fit India Quiz, the 3^rd Khelo India Quiz was launched on 29^th August 2023.
• The National Finals of the annual Fit India Quiz were organized between 23rd and 30th July 2023 in Mumbai, and the State/UT winners were felicitated by Hon’ble Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports. The Fit India Quiz is an embodiment of the Government’s commitment to the “Ek Bharat Shresth Bharat” motto, fostering unity and excellence.

• To commemorate the Swacch Bharat initiative, the 4th edition of Fit India Freedom Run was rechristened as the FIT India Swacchata Freedom Run 4.0 and was launched on 1^st October 2023 at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, New Delhi.  The FIT India Swachhata Freedom Run 4.0 was organised between 1^st October and 31^st October 2023, and culminated with the Unity Run on 31^st October 2023, commemorating the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhai Patel. During this period, citizens were encouraged to dedicate 30 minutes to physical fitness in any form and adopt an active lifestyle and commit towards making India a healthy, clean and hygienic country.

Events organized under Khelo India Scheme:

• With a vision to identify talent and create an opportunity for young and aspiring para athletes to shine, the first-ever Khelo India Para Games were held in Delhi from 10th December to 17th December, 2023. Haryana came first with a total of 105 medals while Uttar Pradesh finished second and Tamil Nadu came third.

• The third edition of Khelo India University Games (KIUG) 2022 was successfully organized from 25^th May to 3^rd June, 2023 in Uttar Pradesh. The event saw participation of around 4700 athletes from over 200 Universities across the country. This edition of the KIUG had 21 sporting disciplines organized in four cities namely, Lucknow, Varanasi, Gorakhpur and Noida. Punjab University finished at the top of the Medals tally with 69 Medals including 26 Gold Medals, followed by Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar and Jain University, Karnataka. The debut of water sports made this edition of KIUG more significant.
• The “Khelo India Dus Ka Dum” event organized to commemorate the International Women’s Day 2023, saw a massive participation of over 1 lakh women in 1500 plus sporting events organized across the country. The event enabled broad-basing the success of the Khelo India Women’s Leagues organized earlier for various sporting disciplines which saw the participation of 23,000 women athletes in 240 sporting at the zonal and national levels.

• The 5^th edition of Khelo India Youth Games was successfully concluded on 11^th February, 2023 at Upper Lake, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Maharashtra topped the Medal Tally with 161 Medals (including 56 Gold), followed by Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, in the Games.

• The 3^rd Khelo India Winter Games were inaugurated on 10^th February, 2023 at Gulmarg. Over 2000 players participated in the event. The Games were concluded on 14^th February, 2023, with Jammu and Kashmir topping the medal tally with 76 medals (including 26 Gold) followed by Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh. On this occasion, 40 Khelo India Centres were also e-launched by the Hon’ble Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports.

Revision in the norms of international exposure:

• The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has been supporting athletes in every possible way to prepare for the major competitions. The ceiling amount for boarding and lodging of athletes in international competitions to provide high-quality accommodation for the athletes had recently been raised in keeping with the current norm. The athletes traveling abroad for approved competitions will now be entitled to USD 250 per day from the previous entitlement of USD 150 per day. In addition to that, the athletes are being supported holistically to ensure that they have access to state-of-the-art infrastructure, equipment, best-in-class training and support staff.

Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2023

• In an effort to strengthen the Anti-Doping environment in the country, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education & Research, Hyderabad (NIPER Hyderabad) to create nutritional supplement testing capacity in India and increase awareness about the risks associated with use of nutritional supplements, increase research opportunities in the clean sport & anti-doping domain and provide options for safe and dope-free nutritional supplements for sportspersons.
• The meeting of the South Asia Regional Anti-Doping Organization (SARADO) was organized by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) on 3^rd July, 2023 in Delhi to promote clean sports and strengthen the anti-doping landscape at the global level. An MoU was also signed between NADA, India and SARADO to increase regional cooperation in anti-doping in sports.

Web portal and mobile application ‘Know Your Medicine’ launched

• To promote clean sports and create awareness on the usage of nutritional supplements, a national conference was organized by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) on 13^th of April, 2023 at New Delhi. To further strengthen the drive towards clean nutritional supplements, a web-portal and mobile application namely ‘Know Your Medicine’ was launched. This app will enable the athletes to make an informed choice about the use of medicines and supplements, and India has now joined the select group of nations with such digital infrastructure available to its athletes.

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PPG/SK