319 gold medals up for grabs as Games declare open today in Kathmandu
Dasrath Rangasala Stadium; Venue for the 13th SAG
With a strong contingent of athletes, Sri Lanka posses the rare opportunity of topping the medals tally of a South Asian Games in its history of 13 editions. One of the main reasons behind Sri Lanka’s likelihood of taking a top place, will be the decision of India, the regional powerhouse in sports, to cut down its contingent, by representing in only 17 sports out of the total of 28.
A total of 319 gold medals will be up for grabs with an equal number of silver medals and 481 bronze medals as Sri Lanka will be eyeing to account most of the total medal tally of 1119. The highest number of gold medals, 38, has been allocated to swimming, in which Sri Lanka has the potential of winning a bulk. Athletics, another sport Sri Lanka can bank on winning number of gold medals, has an allocation of 36 gold medals.
As the 13th edition of the South Asian Games (SAG) is set to officially unveil today at the Dasarath Rangasala Stadium in Kathmandu, where it all began 35 years ago, Sri Lanka athletes will be a fired-up band in hunt of the most number of gold medals ever won at a SAG.
Kathmandu in Nepal is not a stranger to SAG. It hosted the inaugural games in 1984 and the 8th edition 15 years later in 1999. Since 1984, the SAG has being held in Dhaka (1985), Culcutta (1987), Islamabad (1989), Colombo (1991), Dhaka (1993), Madras (1995), Islamabad (2004), Colombo (2006), Dhaka (2010) and Guwahati and Shillong of India (2016). In all these editions, India has been the supreme force to lead the board. Pakistan has the most number of second place finishes with eight and five overall third places. Sri Lanka has placed second at five editions and third at seven occasions, and will be eyeing to record the first top place finish in Kathmandu, where it all started.
But the Island nation will have an obvious threat from Pakistan, who also has a stronger potential to record their first-ever top finish. But Pakistan too will be not fully-fledged as their immediate neighbours India, and has decided to send a pruned down contingent, leaving Sri Lanka as the strong contender.
Sri Lanka officials have been optimistic about raking up more gold medals than the previous SAG in Guwahati and Shillong in India, where 484 athletes in 23 sports and finished off second in the medals tally with a total of 186. Among them were 25 gold, 63 silver and 98 bronze medals.
But this year, one of the main objectives laid down by the Sri Lanka officials is to further add gold medals to the previous edition’s tally or at least a medal each from an athlete, which is totally unrealistic. However most of the respective sports governing bodies of Sri Lanka has taken appropriate steps, by selecting the potential medal-winning athletes or the best combination in team event, which gives the hope a strong foundation.
The opening ceremony will mark official unveiling of the 13th SAG today, but the games kicked off unofficially on Wednesday with volleyball, wushu and paragliding making a start. Alongside the opening ceremony badminton, men’s football, karate, kho-kho and tennis will begin today at different venues around Kathmandu, and Pokhara, a city based almost 300 kilometres from the Nepal capital. Cricket, both men and women, golf, table tennis, taekwondo and triathlon events will begin tomorrow.
Among the 28 sports that will be featured at the SAG 2019 are archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, cricket, cycling, fencing, football, golf, handball, judo, kabaddi, karate, kho-kho, paragliding, shooting, squash, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling and wushu.
Cricket also makes a comeback after eight years. Golf and karate were added to the list by the hosting nation as their choice. Swimming will be the sport with the highest number of events, which is 20, followed by athletics, which has 19 events. The competing nations are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, hosts Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
To make the intention of a country become a reality, the Sri Lanka contingent part-by-part, joined their counterparts in volleyball, wushu and swimming, who are already here. The games will continue until December 10.