LAHORE: Pakistan is preparing to host the SAF Games — the South Asian Games — for the first time in 23 years, and India has accepted the invitation to take part.
Indian representatives attended a high-level meeting of the South Asian Olympic Association held to discuss the Games. During the meeting, India gave Pakistan a positive response regarding participation in the SAF Games.
India has formally expressed its consent to take part in the event, which is scheduled to be held in Pakistan in April 2027.
Secretary General of the Pakistan Olympic Association Khalid Mehmood confirmed the development, stating that India had indicated its willingness to participate during the high-level meeting of the South Asian Olympic Association.
Competitions in 15 sports will be held in Islamabad during the Games, including squash, tennis and martial arts among other disciplines.
The return of the South Asian Games to Pakistan carries significance well beyond the sporting calendar. The country last hosted the event more than two decades ago, and the intervening years saw international sport largely withdraw from Pakistani venues following security concerns, with national teams in several disciplines obliged to play home fixtures at neutral locations.
The gradual return of international competition to Pakistan has been built on individual tours and multi-nation events rather than a single moment, and a regional multi-sport games in Islamabad would represent one of the larger tests of that recovery in terms of scale, athlete numbers and logistics.
Indian participation in events held in Pakistan has been the single most sensitive variable in regional sporting scheduling, with bilateral cricket suspended for years and multi-sport participation frequently subject to political considerations. A confirmation of participation at the association level does not preclude subsequent government-level decisions, and organisers in the region are familiar with the distance between an in-principle acceptance and the arrival of a delegation.
Hosting 15 disciplines will require the upgrading of venues in Islamabad, accommodation arrangements for athletes and officials from across South Asia, and coordination between the Pakistan Olympic Association, federal authorities and the individual national sports federations. With the Games scheduled for April 2027, organisers have a preparation window of roughly 19 months.
-with additional inputs by Minahil Imran
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