All eyes on NEHU, SAI venue
SHILLONG: With test events for all the eight disciplines over, Shillong is now gearing up for the DDay or the commencement of the 12th South Asian Games that the city is cohosting along with Guwahati. If there was a buzz and anticipation for the Games to kick off when the likes of Mary Kom and Sarita Devi descended here for boxing test event and national women’s selection trials, the enthusiasm received a bigger fillip when the Indian squad for badminton was announced. The Badminton Authority of India announced a full strength Indian squad with World No. 2 Saina Nehwal spearheading the women’s singles campaign and World No. 9 Kidambi Srikanth as the highest ranked in men’s singles event.
The likes of PV Sindhu, Parupalli Kashyap, Ajay Jayaram and the doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa also form the squad making badminton apart from boxing one of the most sought after events of this edition of the Games. Earlier, a strong 10-member boxing team was named for the forthcoming Games. The elite women’s team will be spearheaded London Olympic bronze medallist and five-time world champion MC Mary Kom in the 51kg category while L Sarita Devi (60kg) and Pooja Rani Bohra (75kg) are the other two female boxers named in the squad. The elite men’s consists of L Devendro Singh (49kg), Madan Lal (51kg), Shiva Thapa (56kg), Dheeraj (60kg), Manoj Kumar (64kg), Mandeep Jangra (69kg) and Vikas Krishan (75kg). Mary Kom, Sarita Devi and Pooja Rani made the cut during the test games held here recently. Both badminton and boxing are scheduled to be held at the NEHU, SAI Special Area Games, a sports centre, which was under question for its “inability” to host the badminton event not long ago.
Things, however, are different now and the venue is being dubbed by the Games organizers here as one of the best for the SAG in Shillong. Speaking to a section of the media on Friday, Joint CEO, SAG (Shillong), F R Kharkongor said that the venue has shaped up well and except for a few last minute changes here and there, was more or less ready for the main event. “The test games gave us an opportunity to sight deficiencies if any at the venue and we are working on the minor feedbacks given by the respective competition directors of boxing and badminton,” said another senior official aligned with the venue. Kharkongor, meanwhile, added that with top stars of boxing and badminton slated to sweat it out for top honours at the NEHU, SAI venue, all eyes would be on this centre with people expected to make a beeline to see the big names in action. It may be mentioned that the badminton event is scheduled to be held from February 6-10 while boxing is slated for February 13-16. Apart from badminton and boxing, archery, judo, taekwondo, women’s football, table tennis and wushu will also be held in the city