Khelo India Youth Games becomes first digital games of India

If not the world’s, the event became India’s first digital games, going completely paperless, finishing all its processes on a high-tech digital platform.

Representatives from each state were given a unique ID, allowing them to create a username and a password to update details of all their athletes, officials and volunteers.

It was an elaborate and fool-proof process, not giving any scope for confusion or chaos; this ensured that a gigantic event like the KIYG began without any heartburn and is being organised without any hitch.

Sandip Pradhan, the Director General of Sports Authority of India, said: “It wasn’t simply about registering over 10,000 people here. We shortlisted every contingent and every individual got a confirmation on the portal itself.”

“In addition, each person involved in the Games received an SMS, too, confirming their participation, their hotel reservations and their air tickets. Details regarding local transport in Guwahati, too, was also shared via SMS,” Pradhan added.

The Khelo Games took up this initiative to make them an environmentally-friendly event.

Significantly, it wasn’t just state representatives that were involved. National Sports Federations, the School Games Federation of India and the Central Board of Secondary Education, too, nominated their athletes for various individual games on the portal.

They also nominated the technical officials for their own games, just like the local Assam state association nominated the volunteers for the competition. Basic information of every Khelo India athlete, including their eligibility and their performance history has now become part of a screened record.

The same IDs can be used for registering participants for future Khelo India Youth Games too, making everybody’s task much simpler.

(By Hemanta Kumar Nath, Guwahati)