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.

South Asian Games (SAG)
Logo of South Asia Olympic Council
AbbreviationSAG
MottoPeace, Prosperity and Progress
First event1984; 40 years ago (1984)
Occur every4 years
Next event2024 Lahore, Pakistan
PurposeMulti-sport event for nations in South Asia

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 edit

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 2024 Lahore   Pakistan TBD

Sports edit

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

Overall performance edit

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 edit

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
  Afghanistan1 4 21 28 79 128

1Left SAOC and joined CAG.

Original Articles edit

  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 edit

Note : Medals not updated in official websites after doping results

Rank 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 edit

South Asian Beach Games edit

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

South Asian Winter Games edit

Edition Year Host City/Cities Host Nation Top Placed Team
I 2011[16] Dehradun and Auli   India   India (IND)

See also edit

References edit

  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. ^ "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 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.

External links edit