12th South Asian Games begin in Guwahati

The 2016 South Asian Games, officially the XII South Asian Games, will be taking place from February 5 to February 16 in Guwahati and Shillong, India. 

Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi will be inaugurating the 2016 South Asian Games in Guwahati today (February 5). 

Here are some interesting facts about this major multi-sport biennial event:

A total of eight countries will be participating in the 12th South Asian Games. These include: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka

A total of 2,672 athletes are scheduled to compete in 228 events over 23 sports

Out of the total 23 sports/disciplines, 16 will be held in Guwahati (Assam) and 7 in Shillong (Meghalaya)

Theme Song of 12th South Asian Games is 'Ei Prithibi Ek Krirangan' which literally translates to 'The world is a playground' and was written by Bhupen Hazarika (1926-2011), a notable Indian lyricist, musician, singer, poet and film-maker from Assam

The games were originally scheduled to be held in 2012 in Delhi, but were postponed to late 2015, because of elections in the city and the suspension of the Indian Olympic Association. In 2015, it was decided to further postpone the competition to early 2016, because participating countries felt that the December dates did not present enough time for preparation

A total of 764 medals (228 gold, 228 silver and 308 bronze medals) are on offer in 2016 South Asian Games

The event was first hosted by Kathmandu, Nepal in the year 1984

South Asian Sports Council (SASC), formed in 1983, is the governing body for these games.

Some interesting facts about India and its players in the South Asian Games, in various disciplines of sports:

Shooting:

Seven Indians are in top 45 of 25 m rapid fire pistol event in Asia; only other South Asian is Mustafa Ghulam Bashir of Pakistan

11 Indian shooters feature in top 100 of 10 m air rifle; exactly the same number of shooters from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan put together.

Wrestling:

If India is ranked 15th as a team, the next best from South Asia would be Pakistan, who will be ranked around 115th.

Athletics:

Eight out of 15 gold medals on offer in the previous edition (2010) were won by Indian athletes.

Interested in General Knowledge and Current Affairs? Click here to stay informed and know what is happening around the world with our G.K. and Current Affairs section.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

10th Std English Unit 5-6-7 Slip Test Question Papers

Class 6th English Learning Outcomes Chapter-1

6,7,8,9,10 Std English Notes of Lesson Collection 2022