Jaipur: AU Foundation, the CSR arm of AU Small Finance Bank (AU SFB), India’s largest SFB and the first in over a decade to receive in-principle approval to transition into a Universal Bank, on Tuesday announced the successful conclusion of the 6th edition of the AU Bano Champion Village Level Sports tournament, held on August 1-2, 2026 across more than 66 locations in Rajasthan.Building on the success of the previous five editions, this year’s tournament brought together 29,000 young athletes from rural and semi-urban communities, making it one of the largest grassroots sporting initiatives in the state.
Participants in action during one of the athletics events during the AU Bano Champion 6th Village Level tournament
Conducted in an Open Championship format, the tournament welcomed participation from aspiring athletes aged 8-17 years from local communities, extending well beyond the initiative’s regular training centres. Opening ceremonies were held simultaneously across all tournament locations in the presence of local sarpanches, MLAs, sub-divisional magistrates (SDMs), school principals and AU SFB branch teams, reinforcing strong community ownership of the initiative.Participants competed in athletics, football, volleyball, boxing, wushu and kabaddi, kho-kho, ensuring broad outreach across rural geographies. The tournament also serves as a key talent-identification platform, helping discover promising athletes for induction into structured training programmes under the Bano Champion initiative.Winners will now qualify for the District Level tournament and subsequently progress to the State Level tournaments. Participants were felicitated with medals, certificates, mementos.
