WHY NATIONALS GAMES 2022 HAS BEEN THE BEST SO FAR?

The grandest sporting event of the country which is hosted by Gujarat , The “National games” also known as the Indian Olympics , finally took place after 7 years and you won't believe it when I tell you 7000 athletes took part in this year's National Games from all over India . The competition is yet going on and is being hosted in 6 cities of Gujarat and they include - Ahmedabad , Rajkot , Vadodara , Surat , Gandhinagar and Bhavnagar . Trust me when I say this , I have not visited a bigger competition than this in India the level of competition is very high because some of the best athletes are competing in national games from Mirabai C hanu to Chirag Shetty the best of the best athletes were present and were competing in 36 games .

I was so grateful that I was able to go as a spectator and watch these National Games , it was truly an amazing experience. I got to watch India's best Athletes and even Interact with a few of them . I went to Rajkot to watch all the aquatic events mainly Diving , And honestly it was so inspirational looking at other athletes perform it really made me want to represent my country 🇮🇳 the entire atmosphere of the city was majestic and all the more Rajkot being a small city I can say that the entire city was filled with athletes , in fact even the hotel we went to had some of the top athletes staying I even got to interact with a few of them over breakfast one of them was a Olympic level swimmer and his name is Srihari Natraj although it was a just for a brief moment I did take a picture and I also got to see the top swimmers and divers perform and definitely took a few tips from them on how to deal with anxiety before performance and stuff like that , I also took many videos of them performing which I’ll be sharing with y'all via my Instagram but my whole experience was definitely worth it.

But I must say from all the competitions I’ve been to and competed in this so far has been one of the best competitions to watch and the most well organized competition , In Fact during the opening ceremony held in Ahmedabad in the Narendra Modi stadium the crowd was so happening and cheerful and the sky was filled with drones and there was also a fireworks show and it was even attended by our Prime Minister , It overall was such an joyful occasion and included a lot dancing and music and was also attended by Olympic athletes like Neeraj Chopra and P.V Sindhu .

You would be mind blown to know the budget of the government for National Games , it was 2000 crore+ and that is clearly a lot , from building all the facilities to sponsoring all athletes and officials there was a lot their plate and this years National games is even more special because it’s happening after 7 years . So was even more grateful to have attended the competition even if it were for only two days, the exposure i got In those two days was amazing , unfortunately i was sick both days but somehow managed to feel better my last day there and even got attend more events, but surely would like to say that from the facilities to the environment to the hospitality it definitely felt like an international event .

I also learnt a lot when I saw divers like Siddharth Pardeshi dive. They say that you learn a lot when you look at other athletes and I definitely did not only learn about diving but also learnt a lot looking at the swimmers and water polo players .

When it comes to the performance of athletes especially in Swimming & Diving , Services really did well in swimming and so did Karnataka , Few of the other states that performed well were Maharashtra and even Delhi did well , In diving Services and Maharashtra were winning the majority of medals .

This time there also was lot more of Media coverage and more tv channels were streaming the events so it overall was very popular across the country and after the competition many athletes like Mirabai Chanu , P.V Sindhu went to play garba because coincidentally even Navratri was going on and Gujarat is the hub for Navratri so it was even more lively and fun and the fact that they organized all of this in 3 months is really impressive it takes years to plan such big events but hats off to the government and the entire team for planning this in 3 months now that’s really good time management .

Here are just a few things that I feel made National Games stand out :

• The number of Athletes competing

• The rarity of the competition being held , Since it is held every 4 years

• The level of competition during National Games , athletes from the national level to the Olympic level compete against each other…..

• The Prime minister being involved in promoting the event

• The budget that has been allocated for National Games

• The prize money given on winning gold , silver or bronze ( 5 lakh , 3lakh and 1.5 lakh)

CONCLUSION

So the biggest advantage of the National games is definitely the awareness spread amongst the commoners of the country on different sports and this also helps build a community and helps athletes from different sports interact with each other , as well as parents from different sporting background and one important thing y’all should know is that anyone can go and watch the national games you don’t need a pass or you don’t need to be participating to watch the events . All sports events have a viewing gallery and their open to the public for free and that definitely is the biggest advantage and is a very good addition by the National games committee .

So I am also going to be sharing my experience as a spectator on my Instagram and if y’all have any queries regarding the National games let me know I’ll be happy to help :)

So what are your thoughts on the National games ? Did you know about the event , let me know in the comment section below .