Shubham balasaheb ahir

Khelo India Beach Games: The Mallakhamb organisers are excited at the prospect of seeing the indigenous sport unfold at the inaugural Khelo India Beach Games 2025 (KIBG). It’s a setting that’s alien to them, if truth be told.

Mallakhamb is normally associated with the Akhadas and is especially practised in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra but presently it’s being staged at the Ghoghla beach in Diu. And that gives the organisers plenty of hope.

KS Shrivastava, founding member of the Mallakhamb Federation of India in 1980, is proud of how far the sport has come and it’s something he had never envisaged. “In my wildest imagination, I had never imagined that mallakhamb will be staged on a beach. It’s basically an Akhada sport. It’s a moment of great pride. I consider it a personal achievement since all my life I have tried to promote mallakhamb,” said the 1980 Vikram Award winner. The award is given to the athletes from Madhya Pradesh for their sporting excellence.