Saf Games starts today

29 January 2010

The 11th South Asian Federation Games (SAF Games), a major multi-sport event of the region, starts today in Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.

This is the third time that the Dhaka is hosting the games thus becoming the 4th city after Colombo, Kathmandu and Islamabad to host the games multiple times. It is expected to be the largest sporting event ever in the history of Bangladesh.

Originally, the 11th SAF Games was scheduled to take place in November 2009. However, the host country, Bangladesh, was not prepared due to general elections. Therefore, South Asian Association Council (SAOC) held the 39th Executive Meeting and decided against hosting it in 2009.

Eight countries are participating in the games. There are 23 official sports for the 11th SAF Games. Twenty20 cricket will be included in the games. In 2008, it was rumoured that hockey, volleyball, rowing and wrestling had been excluded from the games. However, sources confirmed that only rowing had been excluded. The games end on February 8.

By Tshering Penjore

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