SHILLONG: Eight countries, eight disciplines and over a billion dreams; Shillong is all set for the 12th South Asian Games which will commence here on Friday.
The event will simultaneously kick start in Guwahati where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will declare the Games open during a glittering inaugural ceremony at the Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium in Guwahati on Friday. A grand launching ceremony will follow in Shillong at the JN Stadium here at 5 PM on Saturday evening.
Over 2500 athletes will battle it out for pride and glory in what would be the biggest South Asian Games ever. The Games at Guwahati and Shillong will have 23 disciplines and 228 events, thus making this edition the biggest ever. There will be 228 gold, 228 silver and 308 bronze medals on offer this time.
In Shillong, the action will start with archery and football. In football hosts India will take on Maldives at the JN Stadium at 1.30 PM while Nepal will play Bangladesh in the opener at 9.30 AM.
Meanwhile, the qualifying rounds of archery will kick start at the First Ground Polo in the morning.
There is a buzz around the city and the expectations are high as Shillong gears up for a momentous journey of hosting the biggest sporting extravaganza in its history.
It may be mentioned that eight disciplines—archery, badminton, boxing, judo, table tennis, taekwondo, women’s football and wushu, are set to held in Shillong while the rest will be held in Guwahati.
Badminton and table tennis will commence from February 6, wushu will kick start on February 7, boxing and taekwondo from February 13 and judo from February 14.
India, which topped the medals tally in the previous edition, is clear favourite in a number of events including boxing, badminton and archery where some of the top stars including Olympian Mary Kom, Deepika Kumari among others will be seen in action.
In archery, badminton and boxing, India has named full strength teams while the hosts are also defending the title in women’s football.
Come Friday all roads will lead to Polo and other respective venues as Shillong gears up for the South Asian sporting extravaganza.
