Ranchi: The fifth state-level Khelo Jharkhand U-17 competition began at the Khelgaon sports complex in Hotwar on Saturday. Over 368 students from govt schools across the state will compete in team events in hockey, athletics, kho-kho, volleyball, kabaddi and football.Organised by the department of school education and literacy, the games were inaugurated by Jharkhand Education Project Council director Shashi Ranjan.He said students must balance classroom learning with the discipline and fitness that sport demands and remarked that the state still lacked an early talent-identification and training pathway.Madhukant Pathak, general secretary of Jharkhand Olympic Association, called for strengthening sport at school and university levels. He said age fraud and doping damage credibility and require stronger checks, while the shortage of quality coaches remains a major concern.“If Jharkhand wants to perform well at the 2030 Commonwealth Games and the 2036 Olympics, good coaches are the need of the hour,” Pathak said.
