Organising Committee Xii South Asian Games

The South Asian Games is a bi-annual multinational multi-sport event held amongst the athletes from South Asia. The governing body of these games is South Asia Olympic Council (SAOC), formed in 1983. At present, SAG are joined by eight members namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan & Sri Lanka. The South Asian Games is the regional Games of the Olympic Council of Asia. The events give the opportunity to athletes in a wide variety of sports to represent their country or region in top-level competition and promote sport and a healthy lifestyle to all. The first South Asian Games was hosted by Kathmandu, Nepal in 1984 and have since been held every two years except for some occasions. In 2004, it was decided in the 32nd meeting of South Asia Olympic 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. These Games are often hyped as the South Asian version of Olympic Games.