34th National Games in Jharkhand

The 34th National Games was played from between 12 to 26 February 2011 in Jharkhand. The 34th National Games was inaugurated at the Birsa Munda Athletics Stadium in Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi by Jarkhand Governor M.O.H. Farook. 6979 players from 34 teams which includes all the states and union territories are participating in the games participated in the 33 different sports discipline. Richa Mishra & Veer Dhaval Khade emerged the best athletes in the Games. The Champion Services Team received Raja Bhalendra Singh Trophy. Manipur retained Best State Trophy. The host state Jharkhand ranked fifth in the overall medal tally. Services topped the medal tally with 70 gold. Services with a total of 162 medals topped the medal tally while Nagaland was at the bottom list with only 2 medals. Swimmer Richa Sharma topped the list of medal winners with a total of 16 medals including 11 gold. The second and third positions in the list of top medal winners also went to swimmers- Virdhawal Khade from Maharashtra and (12 medals) and A.p. Gagan Wllallmath from Karnataka (8 medals).

The closing ceremony of the 34th National Games which in fact was the largest National Games ever held saw performances by Katrina & Shaan .

The National Games was seen to have faltered in its schedule. National Games are supposed to be held once in 2 years. However it took Guwahati 5 years to conduct the games after Hyderabad organized the National Games in 2002. The 34th national Games was organised 3 years after the Guwahati Games.

34th National Games was postponed 6 times is scheduled before being finally held in February 2011 in Jharkhand. 35th National Games are to be held at Kerala in 2012. Kerala had earlier hosted the Games in 1987 (27th National Games). 36th National Games will be held at Goa[5] and the 37th National Games will be held in 2013 in Chhattisgarh.

The following is the table showing the medal tally of the 34th National Games:

The culmination of the Olympic movement in which lies the genesis of the National games was marked by the launching of the 9th edition of the Indian Olympic Games at Lahore in 1924. The competitions were held in every two years in one or other major city of the country ever since. The Indian Olympic Games was held as National Games since 1940. Lucknow was the first city to host National Games for the first time after independence. The duration and the regulations of the National Games are entirely within the jurisdiction of the Indian Olympic Association. Although the periodicity of National games is two years it is not allowed to coincide with the years scheduled for the conduct of Olympic Games and Asian Games.