Union Sports minister Anurag Thakur on Friday attended the opening ceremony of Khelo India Dus Ka Dum. The event will be conducted from March 10 to 31, and mark as the celebration of International Women’s Day 2023.

Thakur emphasized the increasing participation of women athletes in the past few years. While talking to ANI Thakur said, “Empowering women through sports is the motive of this (Khelo India Dus Ka Dum) event. The participation of female players in Khelo India has increased from 1800 to 2700. I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for increasing the budget for sports. Empowering women through sports, this Dus ka Dum event marks the beginning of this initiative. Participation of 10,000 female athletes will be ensured in 10 different sports in 10 different cities. Hai Dum to Badhao Kadam.”

The aim of the event is to provide athletes with a platform through which they can progress further. He praised female athletes who have achieved a lot for India in the sports sector.

“This country’s daughters’ steps shall go forward in the sports sector. You must have seen earlier that Saina Nehwal, Sania Mirza, PV Sindhu, Mary Kom, Lovlina and Sakshi Malik have performed exceptionally. This shows that female athletes are progressing further in the sports sector. There is no sector where females are left behind. We are fortunate that the president of India is also a female,” he added.

Top women athletes in the country including Indian hockey star Rani Rampal, boxer Nikhat Zareen and more have posted videos cheering for the participants and wishing them the best. Some prominent athletes will also be joining the program in selected locations while women achievers will also be felicitated.

The sports disciplines that will be a part of the event include Kho Kho, Wushu, Wrestling, Fencing, Archery, Swimming, Basketball, Judo, Athletics and Yogasana.

The main purpose of organising the tournament is to provide a platform to the women athletes who were unable to participate in national/state level competitions and also ensure that competitive sports reach untapped geographical areas.

Kho Kho will be organised in Lucknow, Patiala, Punjab, Delhi, (Una/Solan) Himachal Pradesh, Faridabad, Ajmer, (Mumbai/Pune) Maharashtra, (Chennai) Tamil Nadu, (Hyderabad) Telangana, Andhra Pradesh (venue will be conveyed later).

Wushu – Ranchi, Panchkula, Kokrajhar, Panna, Pune, Nizamabad, Bagalkote, Srinagar, Dehradun, Jaipur

Wrestling – Delhi, Mirchpur, Indore, Chennai, Trivandrum, Pune, Bilaspur, Gonda, Amritsar

Fencing – Patiala, Aurangabad, Guwahati, Imphal, Gujarat, Pune, Jammu, MP, Amritsar, Kerala.

Archery – NCOE Kolkata, NCOE Sonepat, NCOE Guwahati, NCOE Manipur, STC Raipur, STC Hyderabad, Amrawati/Pune, Jamshedpur Tata Archery Academy, Jabalpur MP Archery Academy, Sanskardham Sports Academy Gujarat.

Swimming – Delhi, Pune, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Mangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Kolkata.

Basketball – Kochi, Bengaluru, Ludhiana, Kolkata, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bhavnagar, Cuttack, Shillong, Indore.

Judo -Delhi, Jammu, Ranchi (Jharkhand), Sonepat, Kochi, Mumbai, Jalandhar, Warangal, Haridwar, Imphal, Mokokchung, Chandigarh, Aizwal.

Athletics – Trivandrum, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bhopal, Lucknow, New Delhi, Guwahati, Ranchi.

Yoga – Chennai, Bangalore, Ranchi, Kolkata, Delhi, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Karnal (Haryana), Ahmedabad, Pune.