Arun gupta

Khelo India Youth Games: In the tribal heartlands of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, where sport has long been overshadowed by the struggle for daily survival, Mallakhamb is quietly scripting a story of transformation. Once practised in open fields and farmlands, the traditional Indian sports discipline has today become a vehicle of confidence, aspiration and social change for children from some of the most resource-constrained communities in the region.

At the centre of this movement is Mallakhamb coach Shubham Mair, who arrived from Maharashtra’s Nashik district in 2019–20 and was appointed by the Khanvel Gram Panchayat on contract basis. Shubham is working as head coach at the Mallakhamb Academy located in Shelti village of the Khanvel division.

When Shubham Nair began his work in the Union Territory, he was confronted by stark realities—no training facilities, no equipment, and no safety infrastructure. "There was nothing on the first day. The children trained in paddy fields, on bare ground, and sometimes even climbed trees. We had no poles, no mats, no oil or powder. What we did have was an extraordinary hunger to learn."