13th South Asian Games: New schedule likely to be finalised early next month

KARACHI: The fate of the 13th South Asian Games will be decided in the South Asia Olympic Council meeting which will be held in Bangkok in the first week of March.

A highly reliable source told ‘The News’ on Sunday that the meeting of the South Asia Olympic Council will be held on the sidelines of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) Executive Committee and General Assembly meetings scheduled to take place in Thailand’s capital on March 2 and 3, respectively.

The eight-nation spectacle, which Nepal will host, has already been postponed. It is highly likely that the fresh dates of the biennial event will be finalised in the Bangkok meeting of the South Asia Olympic Council.

Nepal Olympic Committee told the South Asian nations in a meeting in Tokyo the other month that they will not be able to host the Games as per schedule in March 2019 as the venues were not yet prepared.

However, the Nepal NOC had told the South Asian nations that they will inform them properly about its postponement after taking input from its government.It is expected that the Games would be shifted to September-October this year.