![South Asian Games 2027 shifted to April as Pakistan fine-tunes three-city hosting plan [The News]](https://footballpakistan.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/SAOC-meet-in-Islamabad-23-August-2026-for-2027-South-Asian-Games.jpg "South Asian Games 2027 shifted to April as Pakistan fine-tunes three-city hosting plan [The News]")
by Abdul Mohi Shah
ISLAMABAD: The 14th South Asian Games will now be held from April 3 to 11, 2027, with Pakistan deciding to push back the regional sporting extravaganza by a month to accommodate the requirements of participating countries and ensure that all preparations are completed to international standards.
The revised dates and a number of key organisational decisions were finalised at a meeting of the South Asian Olympic Executive Committee held in Islamabad on Sunday, as Pakistan stepped up preparations to host the much-delayed Games across Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar.
The 14th edition of the South Asian Games was originally scheduled to be held in Pakistan in 2021 but was postponed first because of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequently due to the Olympic Games. After years of delays, Pakistan is now preparing to stage the region’s biggest multi-sport event with an ambitious three-city format.
Under the revised plan, Islamabad will host the opening and closing ceremonies and 15 sports, while Lahore will stage 10 disciplines and Peshawar three. The Games are expected to bring together more than 3,300 male and female athletes from across South Asia, while around 1,000 officials, coaches, team managers and other accredited personnel are also expected to travel to Pakistan.
The South Asian Council meeting was chaired by Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) President Ch Arif Saeed, who is also heading the South Asian Games committee as representative of the host country.
Senior officials from all participating countries attended the meeting except India, whose delegates joined the proceedings through Zoom. The Indian representatives actively participated in the deliberations and confirmed their country’s intention to participate, subject to the Indian government’s permission for its contingent to cross the border and travel to Pakistan.
The meeting also reviewed progress on venue development, accommodation, logistics and other essential arrangements. POA President Ch Arif Saeed and Secretary Mohammad Khalid Mehmood assured the visiting delegates that all required formalities would be completed and that the upgrading of venues would be finished by the end of the year.
The South Asian delegates are scheduled to inspect a majority of the venues in Islamabad on Monday morning and are also expected to meet senior government officials during the day.As part of their visit, the delegates travelled to Taxila on Sunday to explore the historic city’s cultural heritage and gain an insight into Pakistan’s rich archaeological and cultural legacy.
The meeting further decided that the South Asian Games Secretariat will become operational by September, enabling the organisers to address and finalise the requirements submitted by participating countries well ahead of the Games.
A significant change approved by the committee was the relocation of volleyball to Peshawar, which will also host archery and judo. The move is aimed at distributing the Games more effectively among the three host cities while utilising available sporting infrastructure.
Islamabad will host the bulk of the competitions, besides staging both the opening and closing ceremonies. The capital will host athletics, badminton, basketball, billiards and snooker, football, kabaddi, karate, rowing, squash, table tennis, tennis, triathlon, weightlifting, wushu and shooting.
Lahore, traditionally one of Pakistan’s major sporting centres, will stage boxing, cricket, fencing, golf, handball, hockey, rugby, swimming, taekwondo and wrestling.Peshawar will host volleyball, archery and judo.
The visiting delegates were given detailed briefings on the progress of venue upgradation and the expected timeline for completing the remaining work. The organisers assured the meeting that all preparations, including the upgrading of sporting facilities and venues, would be completed before January 2027.
Following completion of the work, representatives of the participating countries will be invited back to Pakistan to inspect the venues and assess the final arrangements before the Games. The latest decisions are being seen as an important step towards ending the long wait for the 14th South Asian Games, with Pakistan now facing a tight window to deliver a Games that meets the expectations of the participating nations.
The meeting was chaired by Mr. Arif Saeed, President SAOC and Pakistan Olympic Association, and brought together representatives of the National Olympic Committees of Bangladesh (Mr. Md. Jubaidur Rahman and Major Imroze Ahmed (Retd)), Bhutan (Mr. Nim Dorji), India (Dr. P.T. Usha, Mr. Roghuram Iyer, and Mr. Ajay Naranag), Maldives (Mr. Mohamed Abdul Sattar and Mr. Thamooh Ahmed Saeed), Nepal (Mr. Jeevan Ram Shrestha, Mr. Chaturananda Raj Vaidya and Ms. Sikka Suwal Shrestha) and Sri Lanka (Mr. Asanga Seneviratne Seneviratne and Mr. Ajith Siyambalapitiya). The occasion allowed the Olympic family of the region to take stock of the work in hand and to renew its shared resolve to deliver a memorable edition of the Games.