496 Kerala athletes to compete at National Games 2023 in Goa

Mangaluru: Kerala is set to participate in 33 events at the National Games 2023 to be held in Goa from October 26 - November 9. 496 athletes will represent Kerala at the meet. 129 officials are also part of the contingent. 

The Kerala team is led by former international volleyball star/ex-bureaucrat VA Moideen Naina. The state’s swimming star olympian Sajan Prakash will be Kerala’s flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the games, scheduled to begin on Thursday. 

However, uncertainty still prevails over whether volleyball and handball competitions will be included in the games. Kerala teams are set to participate in both the events, so in case volleyball and handball are included in the game’s fixture at the last moment, then Kerala will end up participating in a total of 35 events. Apart from this, sporting talents from the state will also feature in newly inducted events at the national games including Modern Pentathlon, Kalaripayattu, Golf and Sqay martial arts. As part of preparations for the games, athletes are currently training in several camps organised across Kerala by the state sports council.