Nagoya and Aichi will stage the Games from September 19 to October 4 but in a bid to cut costs there will not be an athletes' village. Instead, the more than 17,000 athletes and officials -- a bigger number than the Olympics -- will stay on a cruise ship and in hotels.

The 14th edition of the South Asian (SA) Games has once again been postponed. According to the revised schedule, the nine-day multi-sport event will now be held in Pakistan in March next year.

Milzar Hossain, one of the most prominent athletes of the country in the 80s, holds the record for the best ever timing by a Bangladeshi in the 800m event, 1:51.16, which he clocked in the 1986 Asian Games to finish fifth. The 58-year-old SA Games silver medalist spoke with The Daily Star's Anisur Rahman about the current state of athletics in Bangladesh and what needs to be done to improve it.

Not that long ago, there used to be a dogfight among a number of teams for medals in the national and summer athletics championships.

South Asian Games gold-medallist swimmers Mahfuza Khatun Shila and Shajahan Ali Rony, now a married couple, will guide the national swimming team at the international competition titled BIMSTEC Youth Water Sports Competition, which is scheduled to start from Feb 7 in New Delhi, India.

Shooter Shakil Ahmed, a gold medallist in South Asian Games and a silver medallist in Commonwealth Games, has put an end to his shooting career after being assigned as an assistant coach of Bangladesh pistol team for the upcoming Asian Olympic Qualification, scheduled for January 5-18 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Ahead of the South Asian Games, the focus of the swimming events rested on Shahjahan Ali Rony, Mahfizur Rahman Sagar and Mahfuza Khatun Shila.

Rina Akhter earns the first silver medal for Bangladesh in the 12th South Asian Games in India in 60kg wrestling (women) event.

An official Indian delegation is currently in Dhaka for the promotion of 12th South Asian Games, scheduled to be held in Guwahati and Shillong from February 6 to 16, 2016.