Kathmandu, November 9

The government took the South Asia Olympic Council members into confidence to clear the clouds of uncertainty over the hosting of the 13th South Asian Games from December 1-10 in Kathmandu, Pokhara and Janakpur.

The National Sports Council Member Secretary Ramesh Silwal, who attended the meeting today, said the government was able to assure the SAOC delegates about the hosting of the regional meet.

“We have assured them of getting all infrastructures ready for the SA Games and they are convinced,” said Silwal. “We are in the final phase of preparation and all the venues will be ready within a week.”

SAOC and Nepal Olympic Committee President Jeevan Ram Shrestha said the confusions were cleared after the government’s assurance and all the member countries were ready to support us for the grand success of the Games.

“The SAOC reached to the conclusion that the SA Games was the responsibility of all member countries and not only of Nepal. As per the South Asian spirit, the SAOC members have promised their full support and it has cleared all the confusions regarding the hosting of the 13th South Asian Games,” said Shrestha.

“The member countries were even ready to provide us equipment, if needed.”

The 13th SA Games features 27 sports disciplines and 17 of them will be held in and around Kathmandu. Pokhara will host nine disciplines, while Janakpur was included as the host of wresting recently.

More than 3,200 athletes from seven nations will take part in the regional sporting extravaganza with home team Nepal fielding 648 players. As per the reports presented in the chef-de-mission seminar, which was also held today, Sri Lanka are second at 622, while Bangladesh are sending 591-member team. Likewise, India have registered 461 athletes, followed by Pakistan (413), Maldives (332) and Bhutan (142). NOC Vice-president Chatura Nanda Rajvaidhya and Rim Ranabhat of NSC represented Nepal in the seminar, while the convenors of various committees presented their reports in the meeting.

The SA Games offers a total of 1135 medals — 324 gold, 324 silver and 487 bronze — with swimming being at the top with 38 gold medals. Athletics offers 36 gold medals, while taekwondo is third at 29.

Wushu offers 22 gold medals, while weightlifting, shooting and wrestling offer 20 each.

Karate (19), boxing (16), judo (15), fencing (12) and archery (10) offer gold medals in double digits, while cycling and paragliding have eight each.

Badminton, table tennis and tennis offer seven gold medals each, while triathlon has five.

Squash, volleyball, golf and basketball have four each, whereas cricket, football, handball, kho-kho and kabaddi offer two each. The SAOC also decided to add one each player in athletics events and two events in cycling and one in boxing. “The meeting unanimously approved the proposal of member countries,” said President Shrestha.

Going by the tradition, the SAOC decided to hand over its flag to Pakistan to host the next edition of the Games. “We will hand over the SAOC flag to Pakistan at the closing ceremony.

But we have reached to a conclusion that the Games should be held every two years. We will assess the situation of Pakistan preparation after six months and the decision might be changed. And if Pakistan does not meet the criteria or it refuses to host the Games, the next edition will be held in Sri Lanka and Maldives,” added Shrestha.