IISM’s Role in 5th Khelo India University Games – Rajasthan 2025
Khelo India Games have been a constant feature on the Indian sporting calendar since 2018 when the inaugural edition of the Khelo India Youth Games (formerly School Games). Since then, there have been multiple variations of Khelo India Games such as the Youth Games, University Games, Beach Games, Para Games & Winter Games. The common primary goal of these Khelo Games has been to strengthen India’s athlete pool at the grassroots level and encourage more participation in Olympic sports.
The 5th edition of the Khelo India University Games (KIUG) held from 28th November to 5th December across seven different cities of Rajasthan namely, Jaipur, Ajmer, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Bharatpur, and Kota.
IISM Students at Khelo India University Games 2025
IISM had the opportunity to have over 50 of its current students working on-ground in these Games. Having served as the Knowledge Partner for Khelo India and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) for the past six years, these University Games were a continuation of that association.
Even IISM’s alumni students were part of this multi-sport national competition, increasing the total number of IISM students working on-ground in the KIUG to over 100. Some of these alumni have been working directly with the Sports Authority of India. Meanwhile, the others were working in freelance capacity in these Khelo India Games with various stakeholders such as the Rajasthan State Sports Council, the event management agency (EMA) and the live broadcaster — DD Sports.
As for the specific roles and responsibilities that IISM’s students handled during these Khelo India University Games, they got to work in around 13 different departments. Let’s understand the scope of their work in these departments and how they implemented their learnings of sports management.
IISM Students at Khelo India – Rajasthan 2025
Departments IISM Students Worked in at KIUG 2025
GTCC (Games Technical Conduct Committee)
The GTCC plays a pivotal role in any of the Khelo India Games, focusing on the technical aspects. With 4000+ athletes participating in the 5th University Games, the GTCC has the massive task of verifying athletes and filing their nominations. They have to enforce the rules and technical standards for all the events. On top of that, the GTCC has to work with federations, the host state, SAI as well as the university contingents to look after several aspects of the competition.
IISM students working in the GTCC for the 2025 Khelo India University Games got to implement their learnings of league operations management and sports event management. Given they also learn about sports law in their sports management curriculum, maintaining technical standards would’ve have been an easier task.
University Coordination
With 220+ universities from all over India participating in these Khelo India University Games, the University Coordination team looks after being the point of contact for all the university contingents. From their travel and transportation details to arranging food & accommodation for them, this team looks after all these logistical aspects.
IISM students working in the University Coordination team would’ve learnt a lot and understood the on-ground applications of sports event management featuring large team contingents.
Volunteer Management
Over 1000 volunteers were working in the 2025 KIUG deployed across the various cities of Rajasthan were events were being held. And to handle these volunteers, there was a dedicated Volunteer Management department which was looking after the end-to-end management of these volunteers.
IISM students, who themselves have been volunteers at several such events had the ground-level understanding of how to manage these volunteers. Thus, they were able to proactively assist in the training and deployment of the volunteers throughout the 5th edition of the Khelo India University Games.
To know more about similar experiences of IISM students, dive deep into our blog on IISM’s Role in Goa’s 37th National Games Excellence.
Sports Presentation
Post-game presentations, podiums and medal ceremonies are a major aspect of such multi-sport competition and need a lot of meticulous planning before the events kick off. There is a dedicated Sports Presentation team to handle this planning and preparation at the Khelo India Games.
During the 2025 KIUG, few IISM students were also a part of this team, as they got to understand the work behind the scenes of those crowning moments of victorious athletes. From handling the medals and trophies to ensuring the Khelo India anthem being played during the podium ceremony — the Sports Presentation team has plenty to plan and execute and an interesting job for aspiring sports managers from IISM.
Spectator Management
Fan engagement has become a crucial part at all kinds of sports events. And Khelo India Games are becoming a popular sporting competition at the grassroots level, attended by many passionate fans. So, there is a need for a Spectator Management team which focuses on engaging the crowd via multiple ways.
There are dedicated anchors and announcers at every venue where the events happen to keep the crowd hooked. This team also collaborates with influencers to attract spectators, as on-ground word-of-mouth becomes a crucial factor in drawing more audiences at Khelo India Games.
IISM’s young dynamic students working in the Spectator Management team at the 2025 University Games would’ve enjoyed doing these tasks as social media-savvy minds would’ve come in handy. With proactive conversational skills, having managed multiple events at IISM, our students know how to keep crowds engaged & be a source of energy for everyone.
Venue Operations
With a multi-sport competition like Khelo India happening, the diverse requirements of each sport’s ‘Field of Play (FOP)’ and equipment needs to be carefully handled. That’s why there is a Venue Operations team at each of the venues to manage the FOP requirements. From putting cones, throwing equipment, and starting blocks to ensuring mats, tracks and similar such aspects are in place with the correct layouts and dimensions, the Venue Operations team has one of the most integral roles at Khelo India.
At the 2025 KIUG in Rajasthan, the Venue Operations team featuring IISM students would’ve also had to contend with external factors like weather. Regardless, their on-ground presence of mind at handling operations in all sorts of events would’ve come in handy.
On top of that, knowing sports and being athletes themselves also helped IISM students massively. Storage and handling of equipment along with a thorough understanding of various fields’ dimensions & layouts is vital for any student working in the Venue Operations team. And IISM’s young talents check all these boxes.
Also Read: 7 Key Skills You Must Learn to Become a Sports Manager
Venue Overlays & Branding
For an event like Khelo India, promoting it on-ground in the host state and around the venues is more important than doing above-the-line promotions. Thus, there is a prominent focus on deployment of hoardings and banners. From traditional flexes to digital signage boards, all the venue overlays and branding of Khelo India Games is taken care of by this team.
Having learned Venue Operations management & Sports Event management, IISM students had to apply their classroom learnings in a practical event setting, and this would’ve been challenging. As coordinating with stakeholders on-ground to get flex banners, digital signage, and standees in place is a completely different ballgame, and easier said in theoretical class work than done.
Regardless, our students working in the Venue Overlays and Branding team got valuable experience of managing the branding of such a large-scale competition like the Khelo India University Games — something they will retain and build upon in the future.
Sports Kits
Storage and distribution of sports kits is crucial at an event like Khelo India, and especially for the University Games, given there were over 4000 athletes from 220+ university contingents participating in the 5th edition in Rajasthan. From coordinating with each of the contingent to ensure all their participating athletes get the right sports kits to the storage and handling of those kits at the Games — this team has plenty of warehousing and logistical duties to look after.
IISM students have gained plenty of experience in handling such operations at marathons and several other events. So, this was a department where they would’ve had no hiccups at all. The complexity at the Khelo India Games comes about taking complete handling of the sports kits.
IISM Students working at Khelo India Rajasthan 2025
From coordinating the receipt of those kits from the vendor — Shiv Naresh for the 2025 KIUG — to their storage and distribution to the contingents, it’s tedious task. However, it’s something IISM’s dynamic future sports managers have prepared for.
Sports Broadcasting
DD Sports was the official broadcaster for the Khelo India University Games in Rajasthan and around 20-25 IISM students [current + alumnis] were part of the Sports Broadcasting team. Working in the BCR (Broadcast Control Room), these students were assisting the commentators and producers in real-time.
Having learned about sports broadcasting in detail from broadcasting professionals like Mr Pankaj Athawale and Mr Jaideep Chakrabarty, IISM students were rather excited to implement those learnings. With their passion and liking towards broadcasting, this was a department that had plenty of dedicated from these aspiring broadcasters, commentators & presenters.
And working with DD Sports, which has been broadcasting sports on TV since the advent of television in the 1970s & ’80s, was an elite privilege. They got to know so many intricacies of TV broadcasting — still an integral part of the media & broadcasting sector in the sports industry.
TSR (Time, Scoring & Results)
TSR is more or less a subset of the Sports Broadcasting department, as these are the aspects in which our student had to provide real-time assistance. From timekeeping of all athletes in various events to helping in updating scores — the TSR team has to be on their toes, especially at a multi-sport event like Khelo India.
Some of the IISM students, who were part of the broadcast team with DD Sports would’ve been tasked with TSR duties. They also were responsible to notify the commentators and the production team of any records being set in any event. Pulling up past data accurately and checking these records needs an astute and detail-oriented eye besides being prompt at providing this information to relay it on the broadcast. And we’re proud to say that IISM’s budding broadcasters were right on the money with these tasks.
Accreditation
Managing multiple stakeholders from SAI, the Rajasthan State Sports Council, the university contingents, their respective athletes and support staff is a highly brain-wracking task. This is where the Accreditation team comes into the picture. Coordinating with vendors, handling access and accreditation for all stakeholders as to who has access in which area of the venue — these are the key responsibilities of the Accreditation team at any Khelo India event.
Like the GTCC and the Venue Operations team, this team has to have a through understanding of the technical rules, procedures & guidelines. At IISM, this is part of the students’ sports management curriculum under the event and venue operations modules, as they need to be able to handle multiple stakeholders including governmental authorities.
Why working in Khelo India is so valuable?
All in all, the 2025 Khelo India University Games in Rajasthan had complete involvement of IISM’s future sports management professionals in almost every aspect of the competition. 4000+ athletes from over 220 universities participating in 24 different sports disciplines held across seven cities spread across Rajasthan’s geographical expanse. Given the magnitude of this 5th edition of the KIUG, these youngsters had to be proactive and put their best efforts towards the success of these Khelo India Games.
And they also got the recognition for the same, as the Sports Authority of India (SAI) have awarded all IISM students with a Letter of Appreciation for their ‘outstanding service and exceptional leadership’ in various capacities across the duration of these Games in Rajasthan.
These letters of appreciation will come in more than handy for these students as pristine sports event management experience to secure future work opportunities, be it in broadcasting, venue operations, event management, logistics, fan engagement and much more.
Conclusion
Given SAI and Khelo India have a strong, long-term association with IISM, aspiring sports management professionals like this group at the University Games, will get more such opportunities in the upcoming Khelo India Games.
The Khelo India Beach Games happening in Daman & Diu from 5th January to 10th January 2026 is the next instance of around 50 IISM students once again working on-ground for SAI and Khelo India. And we are certain that they will maintain a similar level of dedication to elevate this edition of the Beach Games.
Reviewed by Mr. Aman Kumar — Sports Project Manager at IISM — who specializes in sports operations and also handles IISM’s association with key sports stakeholders like the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for Khelo India Games and National Games respectively.
