National Games 2022: List of sports, schedule, venue, live streaming, TV telecast — all you need to know

Sep 29, 2022 - 18:30

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National Games 2022: List of sports, schedule, venue, live streaming, TV telecast — all you need to know

Making a return after a seven-year hiatus, 36th National Games is all set to begin in Gujarat with close to 7000 athletes from all corners of India competing in as many as 36 sporting disciplines.

The biennial event was earlier scheduled in Goa in 2016 but the delay caused by various reasons, followed by the COVID-19 pandemic, put any hope of hosting the event to rest before Gujarat came forward as the new host in 2022.

When will National Games 2022 begin?

Technically, the tournament has already begun with table tennis events being hosted between 20-24 September with a few other disciplines being run simultaneously as well. However, the opening ceremony of the game is all set to take place today (29 September) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad while most of the sporting events will commence from Friday onwards. The Games will end on 12 October.

Who is the host city of the National Games 2022?

While Ahmedabad hosts the opening ceremony and sporting events, the Games will take place across five more cities — Gandhinagar, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot and Bhavnagar. Notably, the track cycling events will take place in the capital New Delhi at the Indira Gandhi Stadium’s Velodrome.

What caused the delay of seven years in hosting the National Games?

After the successful hosting of the National Games in Kerala in 2015, Goa were named the host for the event but logistical issues and other factors kept on causing the postponement. By 2019-20, the organisers were blamed for shoddy work as the facilities needed for holding various events were found incomplete with months to go for the event.

The news came to light after Indian Olympic Association threatened to impose a hefty penalty of Rs 10 crore on the organisers if they fail to host the event. The chances of hosting the event, however, took a serious hit once the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country by March 2020.

What are the events at this edition of the National Games?

With athletes competing from 28 states and eight union territories, along with Services, there will be 36 sporting disciplines in action. The games this year also includes indigenous sports in mallakhambh, yogasana and kabaddi.

The disciplines namely are (in alphabetical order): Aquatics, archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, beach sports, boxing, canoeing, cycling, fencing, football, golf, gymnastics, hockey, judo, kabaddi, kho kho, lawn bowls, mallakhambh, netball, roller sports, rowing, rugby 7s, shooting, soft tennis, softball, squash, table tennis, tennis, triathlon, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, wushu and yogasana.

Why did the table tennis event take place earlier?

The table tennis events were played earlier with several of the key players participating were World Championships bound in China from 30 September to 9 October. The gold medal in the men’s event was grabbed by two-time Commonwealth Games Champion Harmeet Desai (Gujarat) while 2018 CWG gold medallist Sutirtha Mukherjee (West Bengal) took the honours among women. Sutirtha won two more gold medals in the team and women’s doubles event with West Bengal while Desai added another gold for Gujarat in the men’s team event.

Who are the big stars competing in National Games?

Among key stars reportedly competing are Mirabai Chanu (weightlifting), Lovlina Borgohain (boxing), Avinash Sable (3000m steeplechase), Murali Sreeshankar (long jump), Bhavani Devi (Fencing), Elavenil Valarivan (shooting), Mehuli Ghosh (shooting), Srihari Nataraj (swimming), Annu Rani (javelin throw) among others.

Which state is among favourites to win National Games?

National Games often has shown certain regions of athletes suceeding in their forte sports. From Haryana, medal comes in a bunch from wrestling while Kerala dominates the athletics disciplines. Manipur, on the other hand, has dominated weightlifting and boxing while Madhya Pradesh does well in combat sports like judo, wushu. However, Services, with their country-wide athletes’ development programme, have an unmatched arsenal of athletes across all sporting disciplines and are three-time defending champions. In 2015, the Amry sports side bagged 91 gold medals and 159 in total.

Where can you watch the National Games 2022 live?

The Games will be televised live on Doordarshan Sports and the YouTube channel of Prasar Bharti Sports.

What’s the schedule for the National Games?

Table Tennis: September 20 to 24
Kabaddi: September 26 to October 1
Netball: September 26 to 30
Rugby 7s: September 28 to 30
Shooting (rifle and pistol): September 29 to October 3
Shooting (shotgun): September 30 to October 7
Wrestling: September 30 to October 2
Triathlon: September 30 to October 2
Archery: September 30 to October 6
Kho-Kho: September 30 to October 4
Lawn Bowls: September 26 to October 3
Tennis: September 29 to October 5
Roller sports – Skateboarding: September 30 and October 1
Roller sports – Skating: September 30 and October 2
Fencing: September 30 to October 4
Gymnastics: September 30 to October 4
Weightlifting: September 30 to October 4
Rowing: September 30 to October 3
Football (Women): October 1 to 10
Cycling (track): October 1 to 4
Squash: October 1 to 5
Badminton: October 1 to 6
Basketball 3×3: October 1 to 3
Basketball 5×5: October 1 to 6
Football (Men): October 2 to 11
Aquatics: October 2 to 8
Hockey: October 2 to 9
Boxing: October 5 to 12
Yogasana: October 6 to 11
Golf: October 6 to 9
Mallakhambh: October 7 to 11
Soft Tennis: October 7 to 11
Judo: October 7 to 11
Cycling (road): October 8 and 9
Wushu: October 8 to 11
Canoeing: October 10 and 11
Athletics: September 30 to October 4
Softball: October 7 to 11
Beach Volleyball: October 6 to 9
Volleyball: October 8 to 12