By Sachit Subba • Off-Field • Aug 26, 2026 17:01 PM • 54 views
The South Asian Olympic Council (SAOC) approved Pakistan to host the 14th South Asian Games (SAG), setting a large-scale multi-sport event in motion. From Chaitra 20 to 28, more than 4,100 athletes and officials will be in Islamabad, Lahore, and Peshawar, competing for 346 gold, 346 silver, and 515 bronze medals.
A key two-day SAOC meeting in Islamabad on Sunday and Monday completed the blueprint. The Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) gave the precise figures at a press conference this morning. The initial list includes 3,172 athletes and 1,019 officials from seven competing countries.
The hosts and Sri Lanka have the most entrants. Both countries intend to send 670 athletes, accompanied by 202 and 251 officials, respectively. Nepal aims to send 532 competitors and 153 officials. Bangladesh is sending 482 athletes and 122 officials. India, whose delegates took part in the weekend meetings via video link, expects to have 472 athletes and 202 officials. The Maldives will send 261 athletes and 68 officials, and Bhutan will complete the regional list with 85 athletes and 21 officials.
Islamabad is the centre of this large-scale logistical operation, hosting 15 of the 28 sports and the opening ceremony at Jinnah Stadium, which has a capacity of 50,000 seats. The athletes based in Islamabad will take part in athletics, badminton, basketball, snooker, football, kabaddi, karate, rowing, squash, table tennis, tennis, triathlon, weightlifting, wushu and shooting.
Lahore will host 10 sports: boxing, cricket, fencing, golf, handball, hockey, rugby, swimming, taekwondo and wrestling. Peshawar will look after archery, judo and volleyball. Although 25 sports have both men's and women's events, the SAOC has confirmed that four disciplines will be held only as men's events: billiards, hockey, rugby and beach volleyball.
To finalise the schedule and avoid delays, the South Asia Olympic Council set up a special South Asia Olympic Council Coordination Committee for the first time in the event's history. Jeevan Ram Shrestha, the NOC President, leads this dedicated committee. He attended the meetings in Islamabad with Chaturananda Rajvaidya, the NOC Vice President, and Sikka Suwal Shrestha, a member of the National Sports Council. The committee also includes the general secretaries from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Bhutan, as well as representatives of the Asian Olympic Council.
The coordination committee met the chairperson of Pakistan's Prime Minister's youth programme and secured clear government commitments that the games will proceed on schedule. Meanwhile, the SAOC delegates carried out physical inspections of the sporting venues proposed for Islamabad. Nepal is still maintaining its proposal to keep the SAOC's permanent secretariat in Kathmandu and is continuing to advocate for the SAG to be held before the general Asian Games.
