Chandigarh, May 29 : Indian ancient martial art ‘Gatka’ competitions will be the center of special attraction during 4th Khelo India Youth Games to be held at Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex in Panchkula, Haryana from June 4 to June 13 in which boys and girls teams from 16 states will show their fighting skills from June 4 to June 6.
Giving this information here on Sunday, the President of the country’s oldest registered Gatka sports body, the National Gatka Association of India, S. Harjeet Singh Grewal, State Awardee, informed that in this ten days ‘Mahakumbh’ of national games, apart from 25 games having Olympic status, martial art Gatka has also become a part of Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) this time. “It is a matter of pride that for the first time, the Union Sports Ministry has recognized Gatka as a competitive sport in national level sports”, he added.
Interacting with media personal, Gatka promoter S. Grewal informed that the Sports Authority of India (SAI) had constituted a high level Games Technical Conduct Committee (GTCC) for successful conduct of these Games. One representative of all sports had been included in this official committee as a competition manager and the government has included him in this empowered committee as Gatka competition manager.
The GTCC’s Competition Manager S. Grewal informed that during the KIYG, the Gatka teams of boys and girls from 16 states would participate in the Gatka competitions from June 4 to June 6, 2022. Giving more details he said total 256 Gatka players (Gatkabaz) participating in different events would compete for 80 medals.
He further said these competitions would be inaugurated on June 4 at 9 am in a special air-conditioned pavilion inside the Cricket stadium, Panchkula and prizes would be distributed to the winners on June 6 at 3 pm. He also informed that the martial art Gatka would be a special attraction for the players and spectators coming from outside the state during this ‘Khel Mahakumbh’.
The National Gatka Association President S. Grewal said the Gatka competitions during these games would be paperless and a computerized program have been developed for scoring during the matches. In addition, digital scoreboards and LED screens would also be installed to display the scoring live. Apart from this, these Gatka competitions would also be telecasted live on the websites, he informed.
