National Games in Uttarakhand to be postponed by a fortnight, fresh dates to be announced shortly

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Dates of the 38th National Games scheduled to be held across several cities in Uttarakhand next year could be postponed by more than a fortnight, Rekha Arya, Uttarakhand's state sports minister hinted during a meeting earlier this week in Dehradun.

The proposed dates for the National Games announced by Indian Olympic Association (IOA) earlier in October were January 28 to February 14.

Earlier this week Uttarakhand's state sports minister Rekha Arya had gone on record saying that change of dates of National Games were on cards. Officials of some National Sports Federations have requested a change of dates, the state sports minister said during the meeting in Dehradun.

"The National Games dates are clashing with February 7 to 14 Asian Winter Games in China. Since several top players are competing in China it would be appropriate to change the dates of National Games," was another reason she said could see National Games dates being changed.

IOA president PT Usha too hinted that the dates of Asian Winter Games and Uttarakhand National Games are overlapping and should be avoided.

"The official announcement of change of dates is expected to take place during the upcoming Games Technical Conduct Committee (GTCC) in the third week of December in Dehradun," a senior sports administrator familiar with the development told Mykhel.

DK Singh, secretary Uttaranchal Olympic Association though attending the recent meeting chaired by state sports minister in Dehradun, but he feigned ignorance. "I've no idea about the state sports minister raising concern about the change of dates of the National Games," he told Mykhel.

"As of now all the infrastructure is ready for the smooth conduct of the National Games," Singh added.

Meanwhile, renovation work at eight-lane athletic track at Dehradun's Sports College has started. "The synthetic layer will be changed while the base will not be changed," one of the international athletes of Uttarakhand said.

Postponement of National Games in Uttarakhand could jeopardize state government plans to conduct National Winter Games in the last week of January in Auli near Joshimath. "The best time to conduct winter games is January. After February 15 there will be less snow in Auli," a skiing coach of Uttarakhand said.

Both Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh had expressed interest to conduct the 2025 edition of Winter Games. The Ad-hoc panel of Ski and Snowboard India, overseeing Winter Sports activities in the country yet to officially allot to national meet.