India Leads Maiden Youth Team to Historic SCO Delphic Games in Bishkek

This will be the first occasion when an Indian team of artists will represent the country as an officially organised national delegation, on the lines of international sporting events, according to a release.

The 65-member Indian delegation will depart on 22 March 2026 for Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, which currently holds the Chairmanship of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

The 1st Youth Delphic Games are being hosted by the Mayor of Bishkek in collaboration with the International Delphic Committee, Moscow, the apex body that organises Delphic Games across the CIS region. The Delphic Games draw inspiration from the ancient Pythian Games, which celebrated excellence in arts and creativity.

The Indian delegation will comprise 41 young artists--21 from Delhi, 10 from Himachal Pradesh, 4 from Karnataka, and one each from Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, and Haryana--representing a wide spectrum of artistic disciplines. These include folk music, dance, singing, pop music, DJ arts, visual arts, arts and crafts, and piano.

Through this diverse cultural representation, the delegation will showcase the richness of Indian arts and heritage to the SCO Member Nations, ushering in a new era of cultural diplomacy. With this landmark participation, India not only steps onto the international competitive cultural platform, but the Modern Pythian Games--initiated from India--also attains formal cultural recognition among SCO nations, marking a significant diplomatic and cultural milestone.

It is a matter of great honour that Bijender Goel, a global cultural visionary from New Delhi, India, and the Founder of the Modern Pythian Games, has been officially invited by the organisers to address a special session of SCO Member Nations during the 1st Youth Delphic Games.

In his address, Goel will articulate a bold and forward-looking vision for the revival of the ancient Pythian Games in a contemporary form through the Modern Pythian Games. He will highlight how this integrated online and offline cultural ecosystem has the potential to transform arts and culture from a largely unorganised sector into a globally structured and sustainable industry, with an estimated economic contribution exceeding EUR1,000 billion to the global economy.

His address will further underscore the pivotal role that India and other SCO Member Nations can play in shaping this new global cultural order--fostering youth engagement, cultural exchange, economic growth, and long-term cultural diplomacy.

The Indian delegation to the 1st Youth Delphic Games will be led by a distinguished team of cultural and administrative leaders.

* Chief of Mission: B. H. Anilkumar, IAS (Retd.), Karnataka

* Deputy Chief of Mission: S. Siva Kumar, Tamil Nadu

* Chief Choreographer: Sandip Soparrakar, renowned Latin and Ballroom dancer and choreographer

It is a matter of great pride that Sneha Venkatramani, an eminent Bharatanatyam Guru from Bengaluru, and Sulbha Joshi from Uttarakhand, a renowned visual artist, have been selected to serve on the International Jury for the Games.

The list of young artists selected to represent India at the 1st Youth Delphic Games is attached herewith.

Revival of the World's Oldest Cultural Games: Pythian Games are the oldest cultural games of the world revived by Bijender Goel, the founder, from India as the Modern Pythian Games after a gap of 1,630 years. These games were originally held in Delphi, Greece, with available historical data since 582 BC.

While the Olympic Games were the oldest sporting events of the world, originating in Olympia, Greece and with available historical date since 776 BC--were revived after nearly 1,500 years in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin of France.

The Pythian Games were a grand fusion of music, dance, singing, poetry, painting, sculpture, and athletics, unlike the Olympics which focused exclusively on sports. According to Greek mythology, the Olympic Games themselves were initiated on the instruction of the Oracle of Delphi, and many athletic traditions were adopted from the Pythian Games.

- ANI