bhopal: Cooperative, Sports and Youth Welfare Minister Shri Vishwas Kailash Sarang was met by Shri Rigved Milind Thakur, Director, Prime Minister’s Office, New Delhi on Saturday. This meeting took place during Shri Thakur’s two-day stay in Bhopal, the purpose of which was to study first-hand the aspects related to sports infrastructure, innovation, training and development of players in the state under the “Khelo India” scheme.Minister Mr. Sarang informed that the ‘Khelo India’ initiative, inspired by the visionary thinking of Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi, is being implemented in the state with top priority. The state government is also providing training, resources and competition platforms to budding players through the ‘Khelo Badho Abhiyan’.He said that sports infrastructure in Madhya Pradesh has been developed as per global standards, due to which the players of the state are performing excellently at national and international platforms. During the meeting, Shri Thakur praised the effective implementation of Khelo India scheme by the Madhya Pradesh government and said that the state has not only implemented the schemes on the ground, but has also presented many exemplary examples in the field of sports infrastructure and talent promotion.
Madhya Pradesh became the leading state in Khelo IndiaMinister Shri Sarang said that the environment of enthusiasm and zeal towards sports among the youth due to the inspiration of Prime Minister Shri Modi will prove to be helpful in getting more medals for India in global events like Olympics in future. In the concluding remarks of his visit, Shri Thakur said that Khelo India scheme has been implemented in Madhya Pradesh with utmost dedication and professional efficiency. It is clear from the sports infrastructure, innovations and academic initiatives of the state that the state is achieving remarkable achievements in the field of sports.Training facilities were reviewed by interacting with the playersOn the first day of his two-day visit on 4th July 2025, Shri Thakur held a meeting with senior officials of the Sports and Youth Welfare Department and Khelo India Scheme in Bhopal. In this meeting, a detailed review of the “Khelo India State Center of Excellence” (rowing, shooting and hockey), 52 Khelo India centers operating in the state and the Khelo India Athlete Scheme was done. During this, the officials shared their experiences and suggestions to make the scheme more effective.
In the meeting, the experiences of ‘Khelo India Youth Games’ successfully organized in Bhopal in the year 2022 and the administrative lessons learnt from it were also discussed. During the discussion, there was an in-depth dialogue on topics like operational system of the scheme, logistics management, participation of players and public participation.Inspected sports academies and infrastructure under constructionOn the second day of the tour, on 5 July 2025, Shri Thakur visited Khelo India State Center of Excellence, Bhopal. During this, he interacted with the players undergoing training, their coaches, support staff and concerned administrative officers and learned their experiences and suggestions. He closely studied aspects such as quality of training, medical assistance, nutrition, sports psychology and availability of technical facilities. He visited the major sports academies of Madhya Pradesh, equestrian, shooting, hockey and water sports, interacted with the players and understood their needs directly. During the tour, he also visited the modern sports complex under construction at Nathu Barkheda and reviewed the progress there.
