South Asian Games Explained

South Asian Games (SAG)
Abbreviation:	SAG
Motto:	Peace, Prosperity and Progress
Formation:	1984 South Asian Games in Kathmandu, Nepal
Recurrence:	Four years
Last:	2019 South Asian Games in Kathmandu and Pokhara, Nepal
Next:	2025 South Asian Games in Lahore, Pakistan

The South Asian Games (SAG or SA Games), formerly known as the South Asian Federation Games (SAFG or SAF Games), is a quadrennial 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, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan participated 4 times in the SAF Games since 2004, but left the SAOC after participating in the 2016 edition and joined CAOC.

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 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 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

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/Janakpur	Nepal	7	26	317
14	2025	Lahore	Pakistan	7	37	TBD

Sports

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

Overall performance

As of the conclusion of the 2019 South Asian Games.^{[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]}

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. (Updated after doping results)

Rank	NOC	Participated	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	India	13	1263	736	379	2378
2	Pakistan	13	297	421	432	1150
3	Sri Lanka	13	250	436	681	1367
4	Nepal	13	124	186	380	690
5	Bangladesh	13	86	210	493	789
6	Bhutan	13	2	23	66	91
7	Maldives	13	1	3	13	17
Former Member
	Afghanistan^1	4	21	28	79	128

¹Left SAOC and joined CAG.

Original Articles

1. India at the South Asian Games
2. Pakistan at the South Asian Games
3. Sri Lanka at the South Asian Games
4. Nepal at the South Asian Games
5. Bangladesh at the South Asian Games
6. Afghanistan at the South Asian Games
7. Bhutan at the South Asian Games
8. Maldives at the South Asian Games

Detailed Medal Table by Years

Note : Medals not updated in official websites after doping results

Rank! rowspan="2"

NOC	1984			1985			1987			1989			1991			1993			1995			1999			2004			2006			2010			2016			2019
1	India	44	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	Pakistan	5	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 Lanka	7	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	Nepal	4	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	Bangladesh	2	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	Bhutan	0	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	Maldives	0	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
	Afghanistan	Not part of SAOC																								1	3	28	6	7	16	7	9	16	7	9	19	Not part of SAOC

Related Games

South Asian Winter Games

See also

• Traditional games of South Asia

• Events of the OCA (Continental)
  • Asian Games
  • Asian Winter Games
  • Asian Youth Games
  • Asian Beach Games
  • Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games

• Events of the OCA (Subregional)
  • Central Asian Games
  • East Asian Games (now defunct)
  • East Asian Youth Games
  • Southeast Asian Games
  • West Asian Games

• Events of the APC (Continental)
  • Asian Para Games
  • Asian Winter Para Games
  • Asian Youth Para Games
  • Asian Youth Winter Para Games

• Events of the APC (Subregional)

References

1. http://www.rediff.com/sports/2004/apr/02sag.htm It will be South Asian Games
2. http://www.ocasia.org/Game/GamesL1.aspx?j72yDNndeVyJ2ChZBk5tvA== Games page
3. Web site: OCA » Kathmandu 1984. 2021-10-28. 2021-10-28. https://web.archive.org/web/20211028144438/https://www.ocasia.org/games/34-kathmandu-1984.html. live.
4. Web site: OCA » Dhaka 1985. 2021-10-28. 2021-10-28. https://web.archive.org/web/20211028144015/https://ocasia.org/games/33-dhaka-1985.html. live.
5. Web site: OCA » Calcutta 1987. 2021-10-28. 2021-10-28. https://web.archive.org/web/20211028154503/https://www.ocasia.org/games/32-calcutta-1987.html. live.
6. Web site: OCA » Islamabad 1989. 2021-10-28. 2021-10-28. https://web.archive.org/web/20211028160007/https://www.ocasia.org/games/31-islamabad-1989.html. live.
7. Web site: OCA » Colombo 1991. 2021-10-28. 2021-10-28. https://web.archive.org/web/20211028134659/https://ocasia.org/games/30-colombo-1991.html. live.
8. Web site: OCA » Dhaka 1993. 2021-10-28. 2021-10-28. https://web.archive.org/web/20211028154508/https://www.ocasia.org/games/29-dhaka-1993.html. live.
9. Web site: OCA » Madras 1995. 2021-10-28. 2021-10-28. https://web.archive.org/web/20211028154503/https://www.ocasia.org/games/28-madras-1995.html. live.
10. Web site: OCA » Kathmandu 1999. 2021-10-28. 2021-10-28. https://web.archive.org/web/20211028160004/https://www.ocasia.org/games/27-kathmandu-1999.html. live.
11. Web site: OCA » Islamabad 2004. 2021-10-28. 2021-10-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20211020062641/https://ocasia.org/games/26-islamabad-2004.html. live.
12. Web site: OCA » Colombo 2006. 2021-10-28. 2021-10-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20211020062131/https://ocasia.org/games/25-colombo-2006.html. live.
13. Web site: OCA » Dhaka 2010. 2021-10-28. 2021-10-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20211020014658/https://ocasia.org/games/16-dhaka-2010.html. live.
14. Web site: Home . southasiangames2016.nic.in . 2021-10-28 . 2021-10-28 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211028154504/http://southasiangames2016.nic.in/ . live .
15. Web site: Home . 13sagnepal.com . 2021-10-28 . 2019-11-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191117124232/https://www.13sagnepal.com/ . live .
16. Web site: 2010-11-25. South Asian Winter Games to have two opening and closing. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20121104232051/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-11-25/others/28260089_1_auli-dehra-dun-south-asian-winter-games. 2012-11-04. 2011-08-01. The Times of India.

External links

• South Asian Games – official website (archived)