CHENNAI: About 8,000 children from 100 schools in Tamil Nadu, most of them from Chennai, will take part in Skoolympics 2019, an inter-school sports fest that is aimed to enrich the children in mind, body and spirit. With the tag line Game On, it is one-of-a-kind state-wide sports festival. The first edition of Skoolympics is scheduled to be held from October 9 to 13 at Nehru Indoor Stadium, SDAT Aquatic Complex, SDAT and Hockey Stadium.
Children under 17 years can participate in the badminton, tennis, table tennis, swimming, athletics, basketball, football 5’s, kabaddi, volleyball and hockey tournaments.
The highlight of the tournament is that it is digitised with TournamentOS, an exclusive operating system for sports tournaments. It is a sports tournament digitisation and fan engagement platform capable of delivering a great sporting experience to players and fans. This software was designed by former India badminton player Aditya Elango.
“TournamentOS is an award-winning software that tracks the performance of schools and the progress of children. The software was developed by Adya Sports Tech Pvt Ltd, a start-up incubated by NASSCOM. The software has been extensively tested and used at grassroot-level sports. The response has been overwhelming, parents have been appreciative of digitising children’s progress and also the transparency that the system ensures. Even associations have shown interest. The idea behind the software is to digitise all sporting activity, from registrations to results,’’ said Aditya Elango.
“A key feature of TournamentOS is Khel ID, a unique ID for every sportsperson, which uses a live scoring feature to help players track the progress of their improvement since their debut tournament. Every player receives their Khel ID when they register for a sports match or camp organised by TournamentOS. Players can track their performance and scores. The platform analytics will help rank players without bias. Coaches can view player profiles, analyse their scores and improve their performances,’’ he said.
There is no entry fee for team events, and players have to subscribe to the software when they participate in the tournament and pay Internet booking charge. Their records will be available online.
The organisers have tied up with Tamil Thalaivaas for kabaddi, with HUTN for hockey, and with Chennain FC for football.
M Renuka Lakshmi, general secretary of Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu, welcomed the initiative, believing that children would get to play in a quality tournament and also keep track of their performances.
The event culminates in an Open 5-km and 10-km run that will raise funds for identification, training and development of sports talent across tier-2 and 3 cities.