Hailakandi, Jan. 1: With hardly a week left for the third State Games organised by the Assam Olympic Association (AOA) at Silchar in Barak Valley from January 7 to 12, the repair and renovation of the infrastructure in and around the town are getting their final touches to ensure smooth conduct of the event.
President of Assam Cricket Association (ACA) and one of the conveners of the organising committee, Gautam Roy, who is also the state social welfare minister, today donated Rs 10 lakh to the general secretary of District Sports Association (DSA), Silchar, Babul Hore, to meet the initial expenses.
Roy also inspected all the venues on the first day of the year and took stock of the progress made. The track and field events will be held at Police Parade Ground in Silchar. The AOA has contributed Rs 10 lakh for the reconstruction of the track on the ground. Chief minister Tarun Gogoi will inaugurate the Games at Satindra Mohan Dev Stadium in Silchar on January 7. About 3,000 athletes and officials are expected to participate in the meet.
There will be 15 state transport buses plying in Silchar for the transportation of the athletes.
State sports minister Ajit Singh released the mascot of the Games - Dophi (a river dolphin) - in the presence of AOA joint secretary Hazarika, vice-president Munin Nobis, DSA, Silchar, president Badal Dey, general secretary Babul Hore and treasurer Animesh Sengupta recently.
Hazarika said there would be 25 disciplines at 15 venues of the district. Two disciplines - badminton and tennis - have been incorporated into the Silchar edition of the Games this year. In the last edition of the Games at Nagaon, there were 23 disciplines. Hosts Silchar will be eligible to participate in all the disciplines along with top eight districts of the inter-district meets.
Neighbouring Hailakandi and Karimganj districts will also be allowed to participate in spite of not qualifying in some of the disciplines. All the participating teams will get Rs 50,000 each.
Hazarika said NF Railway would run special trains for the teams from January 4 to 13. The finals of all the major disciplines will be held on January 11, he added. The final match of men's football will be played under floodlights.
The 25 disciplines are archery, judo, wushu, badminton, sepak takraw, tennis, boxing, handball, netball, volleyball, kabbadi, kho-kho, athletics, gymnastics, taekwondo, karate, hockey, weightlifting, wrestling, basketball, cycling, marathon, football, table tennis and carrom.
