By Anjan Khadka

Kathmandu, Nov. 17: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli will address the inaugural ceremony of the 13th South Asian Games (SAG) which is scheduled to be held from 1st to 10th December at Kathmandu, Pokhara and Janakpur.
The main organising committee of SAG kicked off the countdown of the mega sporting event of the South Asia through organising a press meet in the capital on Saturday. Nepal is hosting the 13th edition of the SAG after two decades of organising 8th SAG in 1999 in three different cities of Nepal.
The main organising committee of SAG started the countdown 15 days ahead of the grand inauguration of the mega sporting event.
The committee has unveiled SAG promotional video during the press meet. The promotional video contained the different cities of the participation nations.
The countdown began after displaying the main logo of the SAG that was displayed in the front side big screens at the World Trade Centre (WTC) which was located just in-front of Dashrath Stadium, Tripureshwor, Kathmandu.
The inauguration ceremony of the event will be of 03 hours and 24 minute duration.
Member secretary of National Sports Council (NSC), Ramesh Kumar Silwal launched the official SAG website during the press meet. Silwal expressed that Nepal would win more than 50 medals at the mega sporting event.
Nepal had won 31 medals at 8th edition of the SAG which was the biggest achievement for Nepal in the regional sporting event. Host Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Maldives, Bhutan and Sri Lanka will be participating in the mega sporting event.
A total of 3,252 players from seven nations will vie for the 324 gold medals, 324 silver medals and 487 bronze medals. Altogether, there will be 1132 medals including gold, silver and bronze medals up for grabs.
A total of 648 athletes from Nepal, 612 from Sri Lanka, 591 from Bangladesh, 521 from India, 413 from Pakistan, 332 from Maldives and 123 from Bhutan will take part in in the event featuring a total of 27 disciplines to be held in three cities of the nation.
The national capital, Kathmandu, will host 19 disciplines, Pokhara will host 9 disciplines and Janakpur will hold one discipline- wrestling during the 10-day event.