Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan inaugurated the 5th edition of the Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) 2023 on Monday, January 30. It is a multi-sport event held annually in India to promote sports culture and gives a platform for young athletes to showcase their talent and skills. It primarily focuses on sports development at the grassroots level.

Athletes from across the country will participate in KIYG 2023. According to the official notification, the KIYG 2023 will be held at 23 venues, in which 6,000 athletes will take part in 27 different sports. For the first time, sports games like canoeing, fencing, kayaking, and canoe slalom will be a part of KIYG.

Khelo India Youth Games 2023: Date and Venue

The Khelo India Youth Games will be held in eight cities of Madhya Pradesh: Bhopal, Indore, Ujjain, Gwalior, Jabalpur Mandla, Balaghat and Khargone (Maheshwar) and one cycling event will be held in Delhi. KIYG will take place from January 30 to February 11.

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Khelo India Youth Games 2023: Schedule

Khelo India Youth Games 2023: When and where to watch

The multi-sport event will stream live on Star Sports Network and Disney+ Hotstar. The Sports Ministry of India has also launched a mobile application for the Khelo India Youth Games 2023 to allow easier access to the games.

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The Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) has sacked the curator of Lucknow’s Ekana Cricket Stadium after he prepared a vicious turner that produced a low scoring game for the second T20 between India and New Zealand on Sunday.

Indian T20I captain Hardik Pandya was irate and did not mince words as he termed the Lucknow wicket “shocker of a pitch”.

The low-scoring affair saw the Black Caps restricted to 99 for eight in 20 overs while India managed to barely scrape past the line with one ball to spare.

In a statement, the UPCA said the curator has been removed and replaced by Sanjeev Kumar Agarwal, an experienced curator, adding that they will turn things around in a month’s time.

Elaborating on why the Lucknow wicket turned out to be a rank turner, the UPCA said that the pitch had already been host to a ton of domestic cricket, which was mostly played on all the centre wickets ahead of the India-New Zealand game.

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They said the curator should’ve left one or two strips for an international game, adding that the surface was overused and bad weather didn’t give the curators enough time to prepare a fresh wicket.

A report quoting a UPCA source revealed that the new curator, who has prepared wickets in Bangladesh in the past before being removed in October last year, has been tasked to set things right as far as pitch-making is concerned. He will work closely with veteran BCCI curator Taposh Chatterjee.

Indian skipper Hardik Pandya has been unhappy with the surfaces on offer in the first two T20Is of the series so far.

In a statement after the game, Hardik expressed his anger at the curators and termed the Lucknow pitch as a shocker of a wicket. Hardik said that while he’s all for competitive wickets for other formats, however, the surfaces on offer during the first two games were not made for T20 cricket.

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Veteran Indian cricketer Murali Vijay on Monday announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket at the age of 38. Vijay, who last represented India in the 2018 Perth Test, announced his decision over Twitter.

Taking to Twitter, he wrote that, with immense gratitude and humility, he announces his retirement from all forms of international cricket. Talking about his 16-year-long journey, he said those have been the wonderful years of his life, and it was an honour for him to represent India at the highest level of sport.

Vijay even thanked the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA), the Chennai Super Kings, and Chemplast Sanmar for giving him the opportunity. He said he is also grateful to his teammates, coaches, mentors, and support staff, and said that it has been an absolute privilege to have played with them. He also thanked them all for helping him turn his dream into reality.

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The right-handed batsman also expressed gratitude to cricket fans for supporting him through the ups and downs of international sport, adding that he will cherish the moments he spent with his fans and their support, which has always been a source of motivation for him.

In the end, the player thanked his family and friends for their unconditional love and support, which have been his backbone throughout his career. He further said that he will be exploring new opportunities in the world of cricket and the business side of it, where he will continue to participate in different environments.

He featured in first-class and List-A cricket for Tamil Nadu late in 2019 in the Ranji Trophy. As far as professional cricket is concerned, he last turned out for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League in 2020.

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