1st Khelo India School Games were held in New Delhi from 31st January 2018 to 8th February 2018.The inaugural Khelo India School Games were a part of revamped ‘Khelo India’ Programme, the National Programme for development of sports in India.
- Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports held Khelo India School Games in collaboration with the School Games Federation of India and National Sports Federation.
- This event served as an avenue for identification of budding sporting talents in 16 sports disciplines including athletics, boxing, badminton, football, judo, hockey, kabaddi, shooting, kho kho, swimming, weightlifting, volleyball and wrestling.
- Mascots of Khelo India School Games were ‘Vijay the tiger’ and ‘Jaya the black buck’.
- “Aur khelna chahte hain hum……” was the official anthem of Khelo India School Games.
- Venues: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Indira Gandhi Stadium Complex, Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, Karni singh Shooting Range, Dr. SPM Swimming Complex – All these stadiums/sports complexes are located in Delhi.
Anu Kumar wins first gold medal of Khelo India Games in 1500m; Tamil Nadu wins two gold, Uttarakhand, UP, Kerala and Haryana win one each
On January 31, 2018, Anu Kumar of Uttarakhand won the first gold medal of the Khelo India School Games at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi.
- Anu Kumar, an established middle distance star won the 1500m final in 4 minutes, 4.77 seconds.
- Abhishek Singh of Uttar Pradesh won Gold in Shot Put while Praveen of Tamil Nadu won Gold in triple jump.
- In girls’ 1500m race, Gold went to Kerala’s C Chanthini.
- Pooja of Haryana won the Gold in Girls’ shot put.
Odisha, Chandigarh record big wins in Khelo India boys hockey
On February 1, 2018, Day 2 of Khelo India School Games, total 37 goals were scored in four hockey matches in the boys hockey competition at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, New Delhi.
- In the first Pool A match, Punjab defeated Haryana by 4-2 while in Pool B, Uttar Pradesh beat Karnataka by 5-1.
- In the last match of the day, Chandigarh beat Delhi by 8-0.
- Match of the day was between Odisha and Rajasthan, wherein Odisha inflicted a crushing defeat on Rajasthan by 14-3.
Srihari Natraj breaks own national record to lead Karnataka’s dominance in the pool
On February 1, 2018, Karnataka swimmer Srihari Natraj won Gold in the 100m boys’ backstroke event at Khelo India School Games.
- On course to winning Gold in 100m boys’ backstroke event, Srihari Natraj also broke his own national record.
- Srihari added a second gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay with his teammates.
Khelo India School Games concludes; Haryana tops overall medal tally with 38 gold medals
1st Khelo India School Games concluded on February 8, 2018.
- Haryana topped the overall medal tally with 38 gold medals.
- Haryana was followed by Maharashtra and Delhi with 36 and 25 Gold respectively.
- On the concluding day, there was a neck-to-neck competition between Haryana and Maharashtra for the top spot. However, girl and boy boxers from Haryana pulled it off in style and placed Haryana at the top with a margin of 2 more Gold medals as compared to Maharashtra.
Medal Tally – Top 5:
| Rank | State | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Haryana | 38 | 26 | 38 | 102 |
| 2 | Maharashtra | 36 | 32 | 43 | 111 |
| 3 | Delhi | 25 | 29 | 40 | 94 |
| 4 | Karnataka | 16 | 11 | 17 | 44 |
| 5 | Manipur | 13 | 13 | 8 | 34 |