The South Asian Games (SAF Games, SAG, or SA games, & formerly known as South Asian Federation Games) are a biennial 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. At present, SAG are joined by eight members namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
 

The first South Asian Games were hosted by Kathmandu, Nepal in 1984. From 1984 to 1987 they were annual event 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 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. The XII South Asian Games was held at Guwahati and Shillong from 5 February to 16 February 2016.
 

List of South Asian Games

Edition	Year	Host City	Host Nation	Top Placed Team
I	1984	Kathmandu	Nepal	India (IND)
II	1985	Dhaka	Bangladesh	India (IND)
III	1987	Calcutta	India	India (IND)
IV	1989	Islamabad	Pakistan	India (IND)
IX	2004	Islamabad	Pakistan	India (IND)
V	1991	Colombo	Sri Lanka	India (IND)
VI	1993	Dhaka	Bangladesh	India (IND)
VII	1995	Madras	India	India (IND)
VIII	1999	Kathmandu	Nepal	India (IND)
X	2006	Colombo	Sri Lanka	India (IND)
XI	2010	Dhaka	Bangladesh	India (IND)
XII	2016	Guwahati and Shillong[2]	India	India (IND)
XIII	2019	Kathmandu	Nepal