Athletes’ Experience of the Khelo India Programme: A Survey of Participation, Selection, Games Experience and Career Impact

Abstract

The Khelo India programme is the Government of India’s flagship scheme for grassroots sports development and talent identification. This study reports the experiences of 360 athletes who participated in Khelo India tournaments, examining their demographic and training profile, the influence of the selection process, their evaluation of the conduct of the Games, the opportunities that followed participation, and the challenges they encountered. A structured questionnaire was administered and responses were analysed using frequencies, percentages and the chi-square goodness-of-fit test (p < 0.05). Participants were predominantly male (67.5%) and most had trained for more than eight years (38.6%), yet the majority (59.2%) relied on self or family funding before selection. For most athletes the selection process significantly increased motivation (63.3%), the quality of competition was rated excellent (80.3%), and participation led to selection to state or national camps (84.4%) and to scholarships (90.6%). The most frequently reported challenges were insufficient competition exposure (81.7%) and a lack of consistent financial support (80.0%). The findings indicate that Khelo India delivers strong competitive and developmental value to participants while important gaps in sustained financial and infrastructural support persist.