The 12th South Asian Games will be jointly hosted by eastern Indian cities Guwahati and Shillong in February next year, the South Asian Sports Council decided at a meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday.
The multi-disciplined meet was earlier scheduled from December 10 to 20 at the same venues.
Bangladesh Olympic Association vice-president Mizanur Rahman Manu, who attended the meeting, said none of the participating countries supported the initial date of December, obliging the organisers to defer the schedule.
‘Everyone felt that they needed more preparation time,’ Manu told reporters on Thursday. ‘Moreover, we need fund from the government to prepare the athletes. So, we agreed in principal that the meet should be held in February next year.
‘An organising committee was also formed in Delhi meeting to set the final date,’ he said.
In the meeting, Bangladesh proposed for 23 disciplines that were played five years ago in Dhaka.
However, India said they are yet to finalise the number of disciplines with Board of Control for Cricket in India is unlikely to participate in the cricket discipline.
‘India is unlikely to participate in the cricket discipline,’ said Manu. ‘But the other countries want to keep cricket that’s why India said they need some time to confirm the disciplines.’
A total of 2,500 athletes from the eight member countries — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka —are expected to participate in the meet.
The Games which was originally scheduled to be held in India in 2012 but later it had to be postponed due to a suspension over IOA lodged by the International Olympic Committee for corruption.
-With New Age input
