A massive contingent of 567 athletes will represent Sri Lanka at the 13th South Asian Games that will begin today in Kathmandu and Pokhara in Nepal as the tourists also faced accommodation problems which were sorted out later. The Sri Lankan athletes will vie for medals competing in 26 events. Paragliding and Wushu have been included for the first time with golf and karate added by the hosts while cricket is showing up after eight long years.
“A few athletic teams faced problems in finding their hotels due to miscommunication by officials of the host country. We tried to contact the NOC officials to sort out our problems but could not reach them also. Later we sorted out the problems,” said Director General Dammika Muthugala speaking to the Sunday Observer.
A second Sri Lankan contingent was due to arrive on Saturday morning but were stuck in Jaipur as their flight could not land in Delhi due to mist that obstructed visibility according to Muthugala.
This edition of the SAG was scheduled to be held in March but the date was rescheduled by their Olympic Council last year and Nepal is hosting this event for the third time.
India topped the medals table in the last edition with 308 while Sri Lanka won 186 medals.
The grand opening ceremony will be held today and the Games will begin proper with archery being held on December 3 to 7.
The final event will be wrestling that be held from December 6 to 9 and the closing ceremony will be held on December 10.