Karnataka Mini Olympic Games in Bengaluru to start from May 16

By NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Karnataka Mini Olympic Games, a week-long multi-sport event featuring 21 disciplines, gets underway at various venues in Bengaluru from May 16, and conclude on May 22. The Mini Olympics — jointly conducted by the Department of Youth Empowerment and Sports, Govt of Karnataka and the Karnataka Olympic Association(KOA) — will be the second event of its sort in the State.

A total of 5,000 athletes, all in the Under-14 age group, are expected to gather in the city to participate in the event. The 21 disciplines are: Athletics, archery, badminton, basketball, boxing, cycling, fencing, football, gymnastics, handball, hockey, judo, khokho, lawn tennis, netball, rifle shooting, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, weightlifting and wushu.

“Top eight athletes in each category of each event have been selected to participate in the Mini Olympics by their respective state associations,” said Govindaraj, president of Karnataka Olympic Association. It will be a good opportunity for our young sports boys and girls to showcase their talent and become our future sporting stars in various disciplines,” he added.

Handball, netball and kho-kho will be held at the National Youth Centre in Vidyanagar; rifle shooting at Sports Authority of India, South Centre; cycling at NICE Road; football at KSFA Stadium; Gymnastics at the Gopalan Sports Centre in Hoodi; swimming at Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre; hockey at Shanthi Nagar Hockey Stadium. The remaining events will all be held at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium Sports Complex.