Nagpur: The Season 5 of country’s first multisport grassroots festival Khasdar Krida Mahotsav, conceptualised by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, will begin in Nagpur City on January 8. The fifth edition of this multisport discipline will be played at almost all corners of the city from January 8 to 22, 2023.
The event will be inaugurated at the synthetic track of the Divisional Sports Complex, Mankapur at 5.30 pm by the President of the Indian Olympic Association, former sprinter P T Usha and Mithali Raj, former Captain of Indian women’s cricket team. The function will be presided over by Union Minister Nitinji Gadkari. Former Energy Minister of Maharashtra State BJP President Chandrasekhar Bawankule and Maharashtra Sports Minister Girish Mahajan will be present.
This information was given by the Organizer of the Khasdar Krida Mahotsav Sandeep Joshi in a press conference on Friday held at Hotel Centre Point in Ramdaspeth. Dr. Sudhir Dive, Secretary, of the Sports Festival Committee, Piyush Ambulkar, Dr. Vivek Avasare, Dr. Padmakar Charmode, Ashish Mukim, Ashfaq Shaikh, Amit Sampat and others were present.
Khasdar Krida Mahotsva, which is an important platform for sportsmen in Nagpur, will run from 8th to 22nd January 2022. As many as 55 sports will be played in this Sports Festival at 63 grounds or sports venues in different parts of the city. Interestingly, the decision to hold Vidarbha level competition in this year’s festival has also been taken by the Khasdar Krida Mahotsav Committee.
The games that would be part of the fifth edition comprise football, kho-kho, lawn tennis, basketball, carrom, athletics, swimming, volleyball, badminton, hockey, chess, kabaddi, table tennis, cycling, girls box cricket, wrestling, bodybuilding, divyang games, archery, taekwondo, boxing, rifle shooting, fencing, malkhamb, gymnastics, bench press powerlifting, yog kriya, judo, soft ball, sepak takraw, handball, cricket, tug of war, marathon, marshal art, karate, aatya patya, pittu, langdi and many Indian games.
Under 16 boys and girls basketball tournament will be held at the local level. The tournament will be held at Hanuman Nagar Sports Club and Players Basketball Gymkhana, Gadikhana from January 9 to 14. The Maharashtra Invitational Basketball Tournament matches will be played between January 15 and 21 at the courts of Nutan Bharat Yuvak Sangh and Nagpur Amateur Sports Association. A total cash prize of Rs 3.88 lakh will be given to the winners in basketball.
Khasdar Krida Mahotsav in numbers:
• Days – 15
• Games — 54
• Venues – 62
• Teams – 2280
• Officials – 5000
• Participants – 54000
• Matches – 12020
• Trophies – 688
• Medals – 11939
• Prize Money – Rs 1,30,87,743
