Mangaluru: Union sports minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore revealed that the government is to launch ‘Khelo India school games’ by December to provide platform for children to nurture talent at an ASSOCHAM event held in New Delhi.

The Khelo India School Games will be in December and we will have it every year and will be in partnership with corporate houses and broadcasting channels so that we can deliver in these categories. Khelo India will spot a 1,000 children from the school games and fund them by allocating Rs 5 lakh per year for 8 years, said Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Minister of state, ministry of youth affairs and sport (i/c) while inaugurating an ASSOCHAM FIFA U-17 World Cup, India Industry Discussion and Felicitation Sessions at New Delhi.

We will try and raise it to the level of Asian games and American games so there is provide platform for children who are studying in school to come and play and participate in that platform. Without doing this we will not be able to nurture talent, he said. We will create first ever ‘Khelo India college games’ and that’s going to be in January 2018, he said.

The FIFA U-17  World Cup 2017 is a very important occasion as for the first time an Indian team will participate in a FIFA Tournament and thus it is a great honour for all of us, the minister said. “Each and every one of you can inspire this nation by what you do on the football field”, Rathore added.

Addressing the Indian U-17 World Cup squad members, he said, “you are going to play the game of your life and every moment counts. When you enter the field, you should enter to win.”