Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs & Sports, Sarbananda Sonowal has inaugurated Games Secretariat of the 12th South Asian Federation (SAF) Games 2016 at Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex, Polo Ground in Shillong, Meghalaya. The Secretariat would oversee the smooth functioning of the SAF Games.

This is the first time that such a mega event of International level is taking place in North East India. The 12th SAF Games will be held in Guwahati and Shillong from 6 February to 16 February 2016. Out of 23 sports disciplines in the 12th South Asian Games 2016, 8 disciplines will be held in Shillong while the other 15 disciplines will be held at Guwahati.

Did You Know?

• The South Asian Games formerly known as South Asian Federation Games are a bi-annual multi-sport event held among the athletes from South Asia.
• At present, SAG are joined by eight members namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka.
• The first South Asian Games were hosted by Kathmandu, Nepal in 1984 and have since been held every two years except for some occasions.
• These Games are often hyped as the South Asian version of Olympic Games.

Try it…

The 2019 South Asian Games will be hosted by ______