Kerala edition, best National Games: IOA

With the 35th National Games coming to a close, the Kerala government has been cited by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) which termed the event the best ever held.

The Games began with the opening ceremony Jan 31 and the closing ceremony is to take place here later Saturday.

"For us (IOA), athletes are of prime importance and not a single athlete or official has even raised one complaint. This can otherwise be termed as a 'Kerala Model' and other states can use this model as this has been the best ever Games held," IOA president N. Ramachandran said here Saturday.

He pointed out that this Games had lot of uniqueness as this was the first one to be spread across seven districts.

"The Games Village (that housed close to 5,000 athletes and officials. This will now be dismantled and sold in auction) is also a first of its kind concept and it has turned out to be a huge success. Overall when it came to facilities, food, venues and the conduct, everything was perfect," added Ramachandran.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said this happened because of excellent team work.

"We were just the facilitators for the event and it was the IOA that conducted the Games. Right from the 'Run Kerala Run' the curtain raiser event held to popularise the Games, everything went of smoothly," said Chandy.