South Asian Games
South Asian Games
AbbreviationSAG
MottoPeace, Prosperity Progress
First event1984 South Asian Games, Kathmandu, Nepal
Occur everyFour years
Last event2019 South Asian Games, Kathmandu and Pokhara, Nepal
Next event2027 South Asian Games, 4 host cities, Pakistan
PurposeMulti-sport event for nations in South Asia

The South Asian Games is a quadrennial multi-sport event held among athletes from South Asia. The South Asia Olympic Council, which was formed in 1983, governs it. The Games consist of seven countries, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan had participated in the Games four times, but left the SAOC after participating in 2016.

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, the South Asian Sports Council decided to rename the games from the South Asian Federation Games to the South Asian Games as officials believed the word federation was diminishing the emphasis on the event and acting as a barrier to attracting spectators.[1]

These are often known 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. The others are Central Asian Games, East Asian Youth Games, Southeast Asian Games, and West Asian Games.[2]

Editions

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Host cities of the South Asian Games
Edition Year Host Cities Host nation Nations Sports Events Top Nation Ref
11984 Kathmandu   Nepal7 5 62 IndiaIndia[3]
21985 DhakaBangladesh7 7 94 IndiaIndia[4]
31987 CalcuttaIndia7 10 116 IndiaIndia[5]
41989 IslamabadPakistan7 10 114 IndiaIndia[6]
51991 ColomboSri Lanka7 10 142 IndiaIndia[7]
61993 DhakaBangladesh7 11 115 IndiaIndia[8]
71995 MadrasIndia7 14 143 IndiaIndia[9]
81999 Kathmandu   Nepal7 12 163 IndiaIndia[10]
92004 IslamabadPakistan8 15 170 IndiaIndia[11]
102006 ColomboSri Lanka8 20 197 IndiaIndia[12]
112010 DhakaBangladesh8 23 158 IndiaIndia[13]
122016 GuwahatiShillongIndia8 22 226 IndiaIndia[14]
132019 KathmanduPokhara   Nepal7 26 317 IndiaIndia[15]
142027 [16]LahorePakistan7 37 TBD

List of sports

Following 29 sports have been competed in South Asian Games history till latest edition:

Medal table

Rank NOCGold Silver Bronze Total
1 IndiaIndia1263 736 379 2378
2 PakistanPakistan297 421 432 1150
3 Sri LankaSri Lanka250 436 681 1367
4 NepalNepal124 186 380 690
5 BangladeshBangladesh86 210 493 789
6 BhutanBhutan2 23 66 91
7 MaldivesMaldives1 3 13 17
Former member 1
N/aAfghanistanAfghanistan21 28 79 128

1 Left SAOC and joined CAG.

Medals by year

Rank NOC 1984 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1999 2004 2006 2010 2016 2019
GoldSilverBronzeGoldSilverBronzeGoldSilverBronzeGoldSilverBronzeGoldSilverBronzeGoldSilverBronzeGoldSilverBronzeGoldSilverBronzeGoldSilverBronzeGoldSilverBronzeGoldSilverBronzeGoldSilverBronzeGoldSilverBronze
1 IndiaIndia44 28 16 61 32 14 91 45 19 61 43 20 64 59 41 60 46 31 106 60 19 102 58 37 103 57 32 118 69 47 90 55 30 188 92 28 175 92 45
2 PakistanPakistan5 3 2 21 26 12 16 36 14 42 33 22 28 32 25 23 22 20 10 33 36 10 36 30 38 55 50 43 44 71 19 25 36 12 35 57 30 41 57
3 Sri LankaSri Lanka7 11 19 2 7 9 4 7 23 6 10 21 44 34 40 20 22 39 16 25 53 16 42 62 17 32 57 37 63 78 16 35 54 25 64 98 40 84 128
4 NepalNepal4 12 8 1 9 22 2 7 33 1 13 32 2 8 29 1 6 15 4 8 16 31 10 24 7 6 20 9 15 31 8 9 19 3 23 35 51 60 96
5 BangladeshBangladesh2 8 13 9 17 38 3 20 31 1 12 24 4 8 28 11 19 32 7 17 34 2 10 35 3 13 24 3 15 34 18 23 56 4 16 55 19 32 89
6 BhutanBhutan0 0 2 0 0 4 0 1 5 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 6 7 1 3 2 0 3 10 0 2 3 0 1 15 0 7 13
7 MaldivesMaldives0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 1 1 0 4
Former Member
N/aAfghanistanAfghanistanNot part of SAOC1 3 28 6 7 16 7 9 16 7 9 19 Not part of SAOC

Performance table

Country Top Ranked Second Ranked Third Ranked
IndiaIndia13 times N/aN/a
PakistanPakistanN/a7 times 4 times
Sri LankaSri LankaN/a4 times 7 times
NepalNepalN/a2 times N/a
BangladeshBangladeshN/aN/a2 times

South Asian Beach Games

Edition Year Host city Host nation Top Placed Team
I2011HambantotaSri Lanka India (IND)

South Asian Winter Games

Edition Year Host Cities Host nation Top Placed Team
I2011[17]Dehradun and AuliIndia India (IND)

See also

References

  1. ^It will be South Asian GamesArchived 2010-06-04 at the Wayback Machine.Rediff news.April 2, 2004.
  2. ^Games pageArchived 2013-10-14 at the Wayback Machine of the website of the Olympic Council of Asia; retrieved 2010-07-09.
  3. ^"OCA » Kathmandu 1984". Archived from the original on 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  4. ^"OCA » Dhaka 1985". Archived from the original on 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  5. ^"OCA » Calcutta 1987". Archived from the original on 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  6. ^"OCA » Islamabad 1989". Archived from the original on 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  7. ^"OCA » Colombo 1991". Archived from the original on 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  8. ^"OCA » Dhaka 1993". Archived from the original on 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  9. ^"OCA » Madras 1995". Archived from the original on 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  10. ^"OCA » Kathmandu 1999". Archived from the original on 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  11. ^"OCA » Islamabad 2004". Archived from the original on 2021-10-20. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  12. ^"OCA » Colombo 2006". Archived from the original on 2021-10-20. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  13. ^"OCA » Dhaka 2010". Archived from the original on 2021-10-20. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  14. ^"Home". southasiangames2016.nic.in. Archived from the original on 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  15. ^"Home". 13sagnepal.com. Archived from the original on 2019-11-17. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  16. ^"South Asian Games Postponed Again: Rescheduled to 2027". english.adhadhu.com. Retrieved 2025-12-09.
  17. ^"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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