President Pranab Mukherjee has said that sports and games are important for every community and society as it promotes national integration and inculcate national pride, foster friendship, amity and a spirit of sportsmanship. In a message, congratulating all the participants and medal winners of the 35th National Games, Mr Mukherjee urged them to continue to do their best to bring glory to themselves as well as their family, friends and community. He said, the National Games is held every four years to provide a forum for states to compete with each other and enable the sports persons demonstrate the excellence they can achieve. The President congratulated Kerala for hosting the National Games for the second time and said the State has built elaborate as well as state of the art infrastructure across the State. He also congratulated the organizers for the efficient conduct of the Games, in which more than 10,000 athletes have competed in 33 events at 32 venues to win a total of 1363 medals, including 412 each of Gold and Silver.