‘Nepal has expressed inability to host SAG’

KARACHI: Nepal has informally informed South Asian nations about its inability to hold the 13th South Asian Games in March 2019.

Nepal Olympic Committee is expected to formally intimate the South Asian nations by Tuesday (today) after getting a final directive from the government.“An informal meeting of the South Asian Olympic Council was held in Tokyo last week about the SAG. Nepal Olympic Committee told us that they were not able to hold the Games in March as per schedule. However, they told us that they would formally inform us by Tuesday after a meeting with their government,” an official of Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) told ‘The News’ on Monday.

The South Asian Games are scheduled for March 9-18 at Kathmandu and Pokhara.Nepal hinted at postponement of the biennial event because the nation has not yet prepared infrastructure for the competitions.

The infrastructure was damaged by a powerful earthquake in 2015. The Games were scheduled to be held in 2018 but had been delayed because of infrastructure issue.The South Asian nations met in Tokyo on the sidelines of the General Assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) held on November 28 and 29.