World University Games

• 09 Aug 2023

Source: PIB

Why in News?

Recently, the 31^st World University Game was held in Chengdu, China, where India has won a total of 26 medals across 4 disciplines with highest medal count at the World University Games.

• Many of the athletes who won the Medals come from Khelo India Scheme and Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS).
• It had to be held in 2021, the World University Games had to be rescheduled twice due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

What is the World University Game?

• About:
  • World University Games," also known as "Universiade," is an international multi-sport event specifically for university athletes.
  • It is organized by the International University Sports Federation (FISU).
    • FISU is the governing body that oversees and organizes the Universiade events. FISU is responsible for coordinating the host cities and ensuring that the games are conducted in accordance with the organization's principles and regulations.
  • The Universiade is held every two years and features a wide range of sports similar to the Olympic Games.
  • It includes both summer and winter editions,
    • With the summer Universiade typically featuring sports like athletics, swimming, basketball, soccer, and more,
    • While the winter Universiade includes sports like skiing, ice hockey, figure skating, and others.
• Previous Edition:
  • The previous edition, held in Naples in 2019, saw Japan emerge as the dominant nation, securing the highest position on the medal table.
• Future Events:
  • Next Winter World University Games will be held in 2025 in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany.

What is the Khelo India Scheme?

• About:
  • Khelo India, which translates to ‘Let’s play India’, was proposed by the government of India in 2017 to revive India’s sporting culture by engaging with children at the grassroots level.
    • It is implemented by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
  • Under this movement, the Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG), the Khelo India University Games (KIUG) and the Khelo India Winter Games were set up as annual national sports competitions where youngsters, representing their states and universities, respectively, showcased their skills and competed for medals.
• Objective:
  • The Khelo India scheme is a flagship government-funded program that aims to identify and nurture sporting talent in India.
    • The scheme has been very successful in recent years, and the athletes who have been selected for the World University Games are some of the best young talents in the country.

Note: To improve India’s performance at Olympics and Paralympics, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) started the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) in September 2014.This was revamped in April 2018 to establish a technical support team for managing the TOPS athletes and providing holistic support.

• The TOPS sponsored athletes gained relative success at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2018 Commonwealth Games.