Khelo Bharat 2018 finals on July 24-25 at Talkatora Stadium

New Delhi : The Khelo Bharat 2018 finals will be held on July 24-25 at the Talkatora Stadium here, with players from 27 states showcasing their skills in traditional games like Kabaddi, Kushti, Kho-Kho, Tug of War, and Malkambh, it was announced on Tuesday.

The games were played in 27 states, covering 733 districts, and 11,165 mandals. There were 8,834 participating teams in total at the beginning in Lucknow on July 6, 2017. A total of 40 teams were cleared for semi-finals and 20 teams for the finals.

Supporting the cause, a lot of eminent personalities are expected to be present for the games.

Among those expected are Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP National President Amit Shah, Sports Minister Rajya Vardhan Singh Rathore, Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM) National President Poonam Mahajan, Abhishek Bachchan, Vijender Singh, M.C. Mary Kom and Sushil Kumar.

Talking about the Khelo Bharat initiative, Poonam said: "This is an initiative that has been taken by us to encourage the traditional sports amongst thousands of young sportsmen and women in India.

"We started this programme last year and the enthusiasm that you see in today's youth is contagious. In the years to come, we hope more and more Indian youth will participate to showcase their skills," she added.

The objective of Khelo Bharat is not only to identify talent but also to provide guidance and nurture them through existing sports academies and a new set up either by the Central Government, state governments or through public-private partnership.