PM National Games: Record 43 disciplines get nod, beach football to debut, lagori is demo sport
Panaji: Goa will host the biggest-ever National Games with the 37th edition later this year seeing 43 disciplines
jostle for attention and medals.
The last edition in Gujarat had 36 disciplines, while Kerala had 33 when the southern state hosted the National
Games in 2015.
When Goa hosts the National Games in October-November this year, several sports disciplines will make its
debut.
“We will have 43 disciplines, including two (gatka and lagori) as demonstration sports,” Amitabh Sharma,
chairman of the Games Technical Conduct Committee (GTCC), told TOI on Tuesday. “It’s going to be the biggest
sports event (in Goa), biggest National Games so far in the country. Goa has been preparing for a long time and
we believe the Games format in its totality will be executed well.”
According to the list confirmed by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), beach football, roll ball, golf,
sepaktakraw, sqay martial arts, kalliyarapattu and pencak silat will be a medal sport at the National Games for the first time, while yachting and taekwondo makes a return after their exclusion from the Games in Gujarat.
The traditional sport of lagori and gatka have been included as a demonstration sport.
While gatka is a stick-fighting sport that originated in Punjab and remains part of the Khelo India Youth Games,
roll ball is a combination of handball and skating. Sqay and pencak silat are both martial arts forms that
originated in Kashmir and Indonesia respectively.
“The increase in number of disciplines is primarily to give an equal opportunity across the sporting diaspora,” said Sharma, an executive council member of the IOA. “A few indigenous game and traditional sports which are
connected with the entire part of India have been added.
“We have included two demonstration sports. This has been done to provide a chance to these disciplines to
create awareness among the people. Lagori is played pan-India, but primarily it’s a regional sport, more
predominant in Goa and Maharashtra.”
There are prizes to be won in demo sports but the medals won’t be added to the states’ tally.
Sports minister Govind Gaude had pushed for the inclusion of lagori either as a medal or demonstration sport.
Lagori or seven stones is an outdoor game popular among teenagers across the country. It is known by different
names: ‘pitthu’ in Haryana and northern Rajasthan, ‘satoliya’ in Gujarat, yedu penkulata in Andhra Pradesh, ezhu
kallu in Tamil Nadu and eri panthu in Kerala.
Played between two teams, it requires a tennis ball and a set of seven stones which are stacked up to form a small tower. The game involves one team breaking the tower and then rebuilding it, while the opponents are busy
hitting as many as possible with the ball while they try to arrange the stones back.
After several delays, Goa is expected to host the National Games, starting late October and culminating a few
days before Diwali on November 12.
At least three disciplines – shooting, cycling and golf – will be played in neighbouring Maharashtra since Goa does not have the infrastructure to host these events.
DISCIPLINES
Aquatics, archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, billiards & snooker, boxing, canoeing & kayaking, cycling,
football & beach football, fencing, golf, gymnastics, handball & beach handball, hockey, judo, kabaddi, kho kho,
lawn bowl, modern pentathlon, netball, rowing, rugby, sepaktakraw, shooting, squash, table tennis, taekwondo,
tennis, triathlon, volleyball & beach volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, wushu, yachting, yoga, mallakhamb,
pencak silat, sqay martial art, roll ball, kalliyarapattu, lagori (demo), gatka (demo)