Kaski, April 5 ,,The date fixed for organising the South Asian Games (SAG)-2019 should not be deferred anymore, an official of the Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) has said.
The XIII SAG has been scheduled to be held from December 1 to 10 in Nepal. NOC president and member of the House of Representatives, Jeevan Ram Shrestha, said so while speaking in press meet organised by the Sports Journalists’ Forum Kaski in Pokhara today. He said the pre-scheduled date for the Games for which the government has committed would not be changed. Stating that the government has already started preparations for SAG by constituting a preparation committee under the convenorship of Minister for Youth and Sports, Jagat Bahadur Bishwakarma, the NOC president asserted that the Games will take place on the set date.
“It was declared in the concluding function of the XII SAG held in Guwahati, India in February 2016 that the XIII edition of SAG would be held in Nepal in 2018. However, a meeting of the South Asian Olympic Committee postponed the event for 2019 citing lack of time for preparation for it in 2018. Now the Games should not be deferred under any pretext,” he said.
NOC president Shrestha said that some games out of the total 27 games under the XIII SAG would be held in Pokhara. These include women futsal, men’s and women’s volleyball, handball, archery, paragliding and triathlon. According to him, SAG is a matter of pride for Nepal as it was Nepal which conceptualized it in 1984 and also initiated the Games.