The State level games begins from Oct 4 and goes on till Oct 24
Tamil Nadu, one of India’s foremost sporting powerhouses, is all set for its biggest carnival of sports and celebration of excellence as the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu is set to conduct the prestigious CM Trophy 2024 - State-level Games across 4 cities of the state from October 4-24, 2024, which will open new pathways for youngsters to get admissions to higher studies through sports quota and other benefits.
Aligning with Chief Minister MK Stalin’s vision of getting everyone from a child to senior citizens to the playing field, the 2024 CM Trophy will witness over 33,000 participants from 38 districts competing across five categories – school, college students, public, government employees and differently-abled persons -- in 36 sports disciplines.
11 disciplines added
In the 2024 edition 11 sports disciplines have been introduced including Handball, Carrom, Chess, Fencing, Judo, Kho Kho, Boxing, Track Cycling, Gymnastics, Squash and Cerebral Palsy (Athletics) for the differently-abled category while Esports will be a demonstrative sport this year.
The Games will be inaugurated by the Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium. 2024. Paris Paralympics silver medallist in badminton Thulasimathi Murugesan, whose training and other needs are being funded through the Tamil Nadu Champions Foundation and triple jumper Praveen Chitravel will be the torch bearers along with two other youngsters at the opening ceremony.
“The Tamil Nadu government is dedicated to not just promote a robust sports culture in the state but also provide a platform to talented sportspersons to showcase their skills and get a chance to be identified and nurtured into champions. The CM Trophy is one of the flagship events of SDAT that provides such a platform to talented sportspersons from all districts and then supported through the various talent development schemes,” said Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin.
“The initiative has already unearthed many talented sportspersons in the last two years and some of them even went on to win medals for the State in the last edition of the Khelo India Youth Games on the home turf,” he said, adding that their performance helped the State finish second with 38 gold, 21 silver and 39 bronze medals.
SDAT has already allocated a prize fund of Rs 37 crore for this year with the individual category gold medal winners taking home a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh each while the winning team will be richer by Rs 75,000. This year, even the fourth place finisher will get the same prize money as that of the bronze medallist.
All the participants will also receive a playing Kit and T-Shirt for officials accompanying the team and their food, accommodation and transportation costs from their home district are taken care of and each of them will receive a merit and participation certificate (In Digi – Locker) along with match attire for players.
The last edition of the CM Trophy witnessed 27,000 participants competing in 15 sporting disciplines. This year SDAT has increased the number of disciplines to 36 in which 33,000 sports persons will compete over a period of 21 days and the top performers will also be handsomely rewarded.
As part of its endeavour to reach out to maximum sportspersons this year, SDAT also conducted 5 categories of district and regional games in the month of September and 11.56 lakh people participated in these Games.
Kho-kho was introduced in schools for the first time as competitions were conducted in 15 disciplines at the school level and 14 at college level. E-sports will be a demonstrative sport this year.
About SDAT
The Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu is the official sports organ of the Government, Sports Associations, sports minded philanthropists, institutions and anyone committed to sports and physical fitness.
The Stale Level Competitions of Chief Minister's Trophy 2024 will be held across four cities, namely Chennai, Madurai, Trichy and Coimbatore. The mascot for the Games is Veeran, symbolising determination and resilience.