No further postponement of South Asian Games: IOA

Guwahati: The South Asian Games will be finally held in February next year and there will be no further postponement as the chief minister of co-host state Assam has agreed to the schedule of the multi-sporting event.

Indian Olympic Association Rajiv Mehta said that Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has agreed to a February slot for the SAG though the exact dates are yet to be announced.

"I had a meeting with Assam CM today and he has agreed to hosting the event in February. He is satisfied with the SAG being held in February. There will be no further postponement and the SAG will be held in February," Mehta told PTI.

The dates for the SAG had been changed at least twice. It was first decided to schedule in December and then changed to January 10 to 20 only to be postponed again in February.

"The CM was not very happy to host the Games in January because of the popular Bihu festival. He has no such issue in February," Mehta said.

"We will have a meeting again in Guwahati on October 25 and we will decide the final dates (of February) for the Games," he added.

The member countries of South Asian Olympic Council, at a meeting in Chennai on October 11, had decided to postpone the SAG from its earlier January 10-20 slot.

The Council decided to include tennis to the existing 22 disciplines. The other disciplines are archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, cycling, football, handball, hockey, judo, kabaddi, kho kho, shooting, squash, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, triathlon, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling and wushu.

Around 4000 sportspersons from eight South Asian countries are expected to take part in the Games.

Guwahati will host majority of the disciplines while Meghalaya capital of Shillong with be the venue of some sports.