Goa to host 36th National Games

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on 13 September 2017 formally awarded the rights to host the 36th National Games to Goa.

The announcement was made by the state sports minister Manohar Ajgaonkar.

Ajgaonkar said that IOA Secretary General Rajeev Mehta, in a letter to Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, had formally conferred the rights to the state to host the sporting event in November 2017.

About National Games

• The National Games of India comprises various disciplines in which sportsmen from the different states of India participate against each other.

• The National Games were formerly known as the Indian Olympic Games.

• In the early 1920s, the Indian chapter of the Olympic movement was born, and India participated in the 1920 Antwerp Olympics.

• A provisional Indian Olympic Association (IOA) came about by 1924, and the Indian Olympic Games were held in February 1924 in Delhi to select Indian competitors for the 1924 Antwerp Olympics.

• The games were then held every two years, and were renamed as National Games during the 9th Games in Bombay in 1940.

• The Indian Olympic Association, the sports organising body of the nation, mooted the concept of the National Games to promote the development of sports and of the Olympic movement in India, and was responsible for host city selection.

• The first Modern National Games on the lines of the Olympics were held in 1985 in New Delhi.