# South Asian Games

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.
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.

## Editions

| Edition | Year | Host 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 | 2026 | Lahore | Pakistan | 7 | 37 | TBD |
| 15 | 2027 | Colombo | Sri Lanka | 7 | TBD | TBD |
| 16 | 2030 | Dhaka | Bangladesh | 7 | TBD | TBD |
| 16 | 2034 | TBA | India | 7 | TBD | TBD |

## List of sports

Following 29 sports have been competed in South Asian Games history till latest edition:
* Archery (details)
* Athletics (details)
* Badminton (details)
* Baseball (details)
* Basketball (details)
* 3x3 basketball (details)
* Boxing (details)
* Canoeing (details)
* Cricket (details)
* Fencing (details)
* Field hockey (details)
* Football (details)
* Golf (details)
* Gymnastics (details)
* Handball (details)
* Judo (details)
* Kabaddi (details)
* Karate (details)
* Kho kho (details)
* Rowing (details)
* Sailing (details)
* Shooting (details)
* Squash (details)
* Swimming (details)
* Table tennis (details)
* Taekwondo (details)
* Tennis (details)
* Triathlon (details)
* Volleyball (details)
* Weightlifting (details)
* Wrestling (details)
* Wushu (details)

## Medal table

| Rank | NOC | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | India | 1263 | 736 | 379 | 2378 |
| 2 | Pakistan | 297 | 421 | 432 | 1150 |
| 3 | Sri Lanka | 250 | 436 | 681 | 1367 |
| 4 | Nepal | 124 | 186 | 380 | 690 |
| 5 | Bangladesh | 86 | 210 | 493 | 789 |
| 6 | Bhutan | 2 | 23 | 66 | 91 |
| 7 | Maldives | 1 | 3 | 13 | 17 |
| Former member ||||||
| — | Afghanistan | 21 | 28 | 79 | 128 |
$^1$ Left SAOC and joined CAG.
* Updated till 2019 South Asian Games

## Medals by year

| Rank | NOC | 1984 | 1984 | 1984 | 1985 | 1985 | 1985 | 1987 | 1987 | 1987 | 1989 | 1989 | 1989 | 1991 | 1991 | 1991 | 1993 | 1993 | 1993 | 1995 | 1995 | 1995 | 1999 | 1999 | 1999 | 2004 | 2004 | 2004 | 2006 | 2006 | 2006 | 2010 | 2010 | 2010 | 2016 | 2016 | 2016 | 2019 | 2019 | 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 | Not part of SAOC | Not part of SAOC | Not part of SAOC | Not part of SAOC | Not part of SAOC | Not part of SAOC | Not part of SAOC | Not part of SAOC | Not part of SAOC | Not part of SAOC | Not part of SAOC | Not part of SAOC | Not part of SAOC | Not part of SAOC | Not part of SAOC | Not part of SAOC | Not part of SAOC | Not part of SAOC | Not part of SAOC | Not part of SAOC | Not part of SAOC | Not part of SAOC | Not part of SAOC | 1 | 3 | 28 | 6 | 7 | 16 | 7 | 9 | 16 | 7 | 9 | 19 | Not part of SAOC | Not part of SAOC | Not part of SAOC |

## Performance table

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

## Related
### 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 Cities | Host Nation | Top Placed Team |
| I | 2011 | Dehradun and Auli | India | India (IND) |