On Thursday, the 36th National Games were officially opened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a lavish Opening Ceremony held at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad. Anurag Thakur, the Union Minister for Youth Affairs & Sports, as well as other dignitaries attended the inauguration event.
Due to various issues, the National Games have not been held since their previous instalment in 2015, when Kerala hosted the competing athletes, a gap of seven years has passed since then.
The Prime Minister set the torch on the podium for augmented reality lighting, along with Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra, Olympic medalists PV Sindhu, Ravi Dahiya, Mirabai Chanu, and Gagan Narang, former national hockey captain and new HI CEO Dilip Tirkey, and World Championship medalist Anju Bobby George.
“Sportspeople from the nation were competent in the past. It was possible for this trend of medal victories (in international sporting events) to begin earlier as well. But in sports, there was nepotism and corruption rather than professionalism.
In his speech to a roaring crowd at the large stadium, Modi declared, “We have cleaned the system and instilled new confidence among the youth.”
