Ranchi, Feb 11 : Around 8,000 players from across the country will compete for the 2,500 medals at stake at the 34th National Games beginning here Saturday.

The previous edition took place in February 2007 in Guwahati and had 1,395 medals at stake, including 425 golds.

The 34th National Games will be held at Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad in Jharkhand.

There are 800 gold, 800 silver and 900 bronze to be won in 33 events. The opening and closing ceremonies promise to be a glamorous affair with many Bollywood stars expected to perform. Also, there will be traditional tribal music and dances performances by internationally acclaimed local artists.

The Games Village, constructed at Hotwar in Ranchi, has been termed by Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Suresh Kalmadi as world class.

Elaborate arrangements have been made to make the participants and the visiting 1,250 delegates feel at home. The mood is upbeat in the state ahead of Games with chief minister Arjun Munda personally taking interest in the preparations to ensure there are no last minute hiccups.

Jharkhand will have as many as 986 participants. The performance of the state team in the previous two editions had nothing to boast about. This time, the state is hopeful of finishing among the top three. From the 16 medals in the 32nd edition (18th position) and 22 medals in the 33rd (15th position), the Jharkhand Olympic Association (JOA) is expecting the tally to shoot up to more than 100 this time around.

"Our performance in this edition will be much better than the previous one," said JOA spokesperson Madhukant Pathak.

In the previous edition, Jharkhand had participated in only nine events but this time it is participating in all events as the hosts.

However, despite all efforts there has been mismanagement in issuing passes to media persons and the players who will participate in the games.(IANS)