GURUGRAM: In the recently concluded Khelo India games, Haryana came first with a medal tally of 102. But Gurgaon fared badly among the top four districts as the city players bagged only six medals — one gold, two silver and three bronze. Suprisingly, the district sports authorities had no clue of the exact number of players who took part in the games.While district sports officer Paras Ram said nine players participated in the games, assistant education officer Jagdish Ahlawat put the number at 18.But official records accessed by TOI revealed that 24 players were sent to the event from the city. Moreover, players who took part in the competition didn’t take part in any trials and surprisingly there was no selection process.“We had got a list from the education department in Chandigarh in which 18 players were selected to take part in the games from Gurgaon. Now, the rest of the players who took part in the games, had applied on their own or their school had done so for them,” said Ahlawat, who looks after the selection of players at the school level.In the inaugural games, students competed for 209 gold medals across 16 sports. The city kids managed to win only six medals. While Aarju Raghav from Ghamroj won gold in a team event of women’s football in under-17 category, Khushi Jain and Harsh Parashar won silver in swimming and archery, respectively. The three bronze medals were bagged by Rudrika Kundu (54kg boxing), Yashi Sharma (60kg boxing) and the under 17 swimming team.In comparison, Hisar won 11 medals (4 gold, 1 silver and 6 bronze), Sonipat 9 medals (5 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze), and Bhiwani 9 medals (2 gold 3 silver and 4 bronze).Sports officials said a fair selection process could have changed the medal tally for the city. “We were given very little time, only around two months. Had a proper trial taken place like it does for other games and events, the city’s medal tally could have been higher,” said the district sports officer ( DSO ).Khelo India refuted these claims.Neeraj Bhatt, tournament in charge, Khelo India, said, “The selection process was transparent. The first three players who had won gold, silver and bronze in the school national games were selected for Khelo India. Now, these people are angry because like every year they were not able to hold trials and select kids of their choice. We had informed everyone about which kids were selected, wasn’t two months enough to prepare kids?”However, former DSO (Gurgaon) Kulvinder Bhimra blamed the central government for spending too much money on publicising the games.“The Centre set aside Rs 575 crore for Khelo India. Too much money has been spent on advertisements, which could have been used for nurturing players,” he said.

Stay updated with all the Latest Faridabad headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.