Express News Service By

CHENNAI:Though the dates are yet to be finalised, India will host the South Asian Games this winter and will include, if all stakeholders sign on the dotted line, 28 disciplines. This was discussed during a meeting in Singapore on Saturday. “We had a fruitful meeting and all the eight South Asian country representatives were very cooperative and agreed upon the disciplines,” Indian Olympic Association secretary general Rajeev Mehta told Express on Monday.

The uncertainty over the Games were cleared last month when Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal assured the state government that he would give all possible assistance to the state governments of Assam and Meghalaya to host it successfully. “We had a meeting will all stakeholders last week and the Government of India has given approval to the Games,” said Mehta. He also said the two state governments showed keen interest and all stakeholders would work to host the Games without any hitch.

A lot of major decisions will be taken during a meeting where representatives from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Maldives will meet in Delhi on July 8. “It will be a crucial meeting,” said Mehta.

“The Games will be on for around two weeks across two states. We have spoken to other South Asian Federation members and they agreed. Now we have to chalk out a concrete plan. The central government is on board and it will assist the hosts in every way it can. It will help them in upgrading their infrastructure financially.”

Mehta also said it was because of this new regime that the Games were revived. “This was supposed to be hosted in 2012 but got postponed because of various reasons. But when we took over, the IOA president and I worked hard it revive and host the Games,” said Mehta.

“Some of the member countries were pleased that the Games are being held after a long gap.”

The fate of the Games hit a road block this year too. Though the new IOA regime vowed to get it back and running, the hosts – Assam and Meghalaya – suddenly developed cold feet. Assam wanted funds from the Centre to upgrade facilities and said it was not in a position to host it if the Centre did not support them. However, the sports minister during his visit to Assam spoke and convinced the hosts the organise the event and pledged all support.