Union Minister for Youth Affairs Anurag Singh Thakur on Tuesday kicked off Aquatics Championships 2024 which is being held for the primary time.

The 1st BIMSTEC Aquatics Championships is being held at Delhi’s Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Swimming Pool Complex from February 6 to 9 with competitions being held for Under 20 age class in Swimming, Water Polo and Diving occasions.

A complete of 39 medals will probably be given out throughout three sporting occasions together with a complete of 9 trophies that will probably be at stake. Over 500 personnel are anticipated on the occasions, together with 268 athletes from numerous BIMSTEC member international locations.

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Along with the Sports Minister, the opening ceremony was additionally attended by Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Nepal Dig Bahadur Limbu and Indra Mani Pandey, Secretary General, BIMSTEC High Commissioners & Ambassadors to India of BIMSTEC amongst dignitaries from visiting international locations and the federal government of India.

“The world’s 25% inhabitants lives in South Asia and Southeast Asian area and with the approaching collectively of seven BIMSTEC international locations, the Bay of Bengal space not solely turns into a area used for journey and transportation but additionally turns into an space of progress, improvement and collaboration which can assist in not solely deeper friendship but additionally constructing a deeper sporting tradition which can assist deepen even friendship between athletes and that’s precisely the thought that our honourable Prime Minister envisioned when he introduced this sporting occasion on the summit in Nepal,” the Sports Minister said.

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BIMSTEC (The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) constitutes a unique link between South and Southeast Asian countries with five members from South Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka) and two members from Southeast Asia (Myanmar & Thailand).

The organisation for the very first time in history is hosting a sports competition which is being hosted in India. The announcement for the same was made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the 4th BIMSTEC Summit in 2018, where he announced the organising of the Youth Water Sports competition in India.

The event was initially proposed for the year 2021, however, it was later postponed to 2024 due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic across the world.