MP News: 2nd Edition Of Khelo MP Youth Games Postponed For Third Time

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The second edition of the Khelo MP Youth Games will be organised in January 2026. The first edition was played in October 2023. Since then, the Games have been postponed thrice.

In the latest postponement the Madhya Pradesh sports department has decided to put them off from October this year to December 2025-January 2026. The Games will begin from December 7-8, 2025.

Block and district level tournaments will be organised in December and the state-level competitions will be held in January 2026. It means that the Second Edition, which should have been organised in 2024, will now be held in 2026.

Competitions in a total of 27 sporting disciplines including Athletics, Basketball, Badminton, Boxing, Football, Hockey, Judo, Kabaddi, Kho-Kho, Cricket, Mallakhamb, Swimming, Weightlifting, Wrestling, Table Tennis, Yogasana, Volleyball, Tennis, Chess and Pitthu will be held in the forthcoming Games. In the first edition, 19 sports were played.

About the reason for postponement, Director Sports Ravi Gupta told Free Press that most of the sports associations have already organised their juniors tournaments at district, state and national levels for the current year.

Hence we decided not to hold the Games in October. The winners, whether individuals or teams, in the Games will represent Madhya Pradesh in all national-level tournaments in 2026, Gupta said.

Along the lines of the Khelo India Youth Games organised by the Union Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs, the Madhya Pradesh Government had launched Khelo MP Youth Games in 2023. Players below the age of 19 are eligible to participate in the Games.

The second edition of the Games was to be held in December 2024. It was put on hold due to the 38th National Games that were to open in Uttarakhand on January 28, 2025.

The National Games were to conclude on February 14. But in view of the fact that the Class 10 and Class 12 examinations of CBSE and MP Board were to begin in February and March and were to continue till April, it was decided to hold them in October 2025.