Defending champions Maharashtra and challengers Haryana will once again rekindle their competitive spirit as they aim to underline their supremacy in the sixth edition of the Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) in Chennai. This is the first instance that the tournament is being held in the southern part of the country.

All the venues have been refurbished and the rising sports stars will get to showcase their talent at the state-of-art stadiums which have hosted international competitions like the ATP Chennai Open, Chess Olympiad, Nehru Gold Cup and many national level events.

In the last five editions of the Khelo India Youth Games (the first one was called the Khelo India School Games), Maharashtra has won the overall crown thrice while Haryana had got the better of their nearest rivals twice.

The Khelo India scheme was launched in 2016 to provide financial assistance to talented athletes apart from establishing and supporting multiple Khelo India Academies.

In the Khelo India Youth Games, the domination of Maharashtra and Haryana has been so absolute that no other state has even come within touching distance of their medals tally in any of the five editions.

At the 6th edition of the Games, Maharashtra will field a 415-strong squad competing in 24 sports disciplines while Haryana will have a contingent size of 491 members. Hosts Tamil Nadu has the largest contingent in the Games with 559 members.

Over 5600 sportspersons will be vying for a total of 278 gold, 278 silver and 377 bronze medals across 26 sports disciplines over the next fortnight with competitions being held in 12 venues across four cities – Chennai, Madurai, Trichy and Coimbatore – of Tamil Nadu.

Squash will be making its Khelo India Youth Games debut in the city that has been home to the sport in India for over three decades while Tamil Nadu’s traditional martial-arts form, Silambam, will be a demo sport.

Swimming and athletics will have 38 and 32 gold medals on offer respectively while boxing (20), cycling (16) gymnastics (17), fencing (12), shooting (16) weightlifting (20) and wrestling (21) will be the other major medal events.

Among the other states, hosts Tamil Nadu had set themselves a target of breaking into the top-three in the medals tally and are banking on local support to encourage the players.

Last edition third-place finishers Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Kerala would be the other contenders for the top-10 positions on the medal tally.