South Asian Games

The South Asian Games (SAG or SA Games), and formerly known as the South Asian Federation Games (SAFG or SAF Games) is a biennial multi-sport event held among the athletes from South Asia. The governing body of these games is South Asia Olympic Council (SAOC), formed in 1983. Currently, the SAOC comprises 7 member countries, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan started participating in the SAF Games in 2004 and left the SAOC after participating in the 2016 edition.

South Asian Games (SAG)
Logo of South Asia Olympic Council
AbbreviationSAG
MottoPeace, Prosperity and Progress
First event1984 South Asian Games in Kathmandu, Nepal
Occur every2 years
Next event2021 South Asian Games in Lahore, Pakistan

The first South Asian Games were hosted by Kathmandu, Nepal in 1984. From 1984 to 1987 they were held every year except 1986, as it was a year of Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. From 1987 onwards, they have been held every two years except for some occasions. In 2004, it was decided in the 32nd meeting of South Asian Sports Council to rename the games from South Asian Federation Games to South Asian Games as the officials believed the word Federation was diminishing the emphasis on event and acting as a barrier in attracting crowd.[1] These Games are often hyped as the South Asian version of Olympic Games. The XIII South Asian Games was held at Kathmandu, Pokhara and Janakpur from 1 December to 10 December 2019.

The South Asian Games is one of five subregional Games of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). The others are the Central Asian Games, the East Asian Youth Games, the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), and the West Asian Games.[2]

List of South Asian Games

[3][4]

Edition Year Host City/Cities Host Nation Nations Sports Events
1 1984 Kathmandu    Nepal 7 5 62
2 1985 Dhaka  Bangladesh 7 7 94
3 1987 Calcutta  India 7 10 116
4 1989 Islamabad  Pakistan 7 10 114
5 1991 Colombo  Sri Lanka 7 10 142
6 1993 Dhaka  Bangladesh 7 11 115
7 1995 Madras  India 7 14 143
8 1999 Kathmandu    Nepal 7 12 163
9 2004 Islamabad  Pakistan 8 15 170
10 2006 Colombo  Sri Lanka 8 20 197
11 2010 Dhaka  Bangladesh 8 23 158
12 2016 Guwahati/Shillong  India 8 22 226
13 2019 Kathmandu/Pokhara    Nepal 7 26 317
14 2021 Lahore  Pakistan

Sports

Following 28 sports have been competed in South Asian Games history till latest edition:

Overall performance

As of the conclusion of the 2019 South Asian Games.

Country Top Ranked Team Second-Ranked Team Third-Ranked Team
 India 13 times
 Pakistan 7 times 4 times
 Sri Lanka 4 times 7 times
Nepal 2 times
 Bangladesh 2 times

All-time medal table

As of the conclusion of the 2019 South Asian Games.

Rank NOC Participated Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 India1312747443902408
2 Pakistan133604584571275
3 Sri Lanka132604446901394
4 Nepal13130182367679
5 Bangladesh1387210491788
6 Afghanistan4202654100
7 Bhutan132236691
8 Maldives13141318

South Asian Beach Games

Edition Year Host City Host Nation Top Placed Team
I 2011 Hambantota  Sri Lanka  India (IND)

South Asian Winter Games

Edition Year Host City/Cities Host Nation Top Placed Team
I 2011[5] Dehradun and Auli  India  India (IND)

See also

References

  1. It will be South Asian Games Archived 2010-06-04 at the Wayback Machine.Rediff news.April 2, 2004.
  2. Games page Archived 2013-10-14 at the Wayback Machine of the website of the Olympic Council of Asia; retrieved 2010-07-09.
  3. "12th SAF Games Mantle Falls on State". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 20 June 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  4. Premalal, Susil (24 November 2019). "Sri Lanka to host 14th South Asian Games". The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka). Colombo, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  5. "South Asian Winter Games to have two opening and closing". The Times of India. 2010-11-25. Archived from the original on 2012-11-04. Retrieved 2011-08-01.
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