South Asia Olympic Council

South Asia Olympic Council
Abbreviation	SAOC
Formation	1983; 41 years ago
Type	Sports governing body
Purpose	South Asian Games
Membership	South Asia
Official language	English
President	Lieutenant-General Syed Arif Hasan
Secretary General	Muhammad Khalid Mahmood
Affiliations	Olympic Council of Asia

The South Asia Olympic Council, aka SAOC and formerly known as the South Asian Sports Federation, is the governing body of sports in South Asia. It currently has 7 National Olympic Committees members.

History

South Asian Games Federation (SAGF) was formed officially in 1983.^[1] In 2004, in 32nd meeting of South Asian Sports Federation held at Islamabad (Pakistan), it was decided to rename it to its current name i.e. South Asia Olympic Council.^[2]

The SAOC headquarters is located in host city of future South Asian Games and the President of NOC hosting the SAG holds the position of SAOC President. Its current President is Lieutenant-General Syed Arif Hasan from Pakistan.

Member nations

Following is the list of member countries of SAOC:

S. No.	Member
1.	Bangladesh Olympic Association
2.	Bhutan Olympic Committee
3.	Indian Olympic Association
4.	Maldives Olympic Committee
5.	Nepal Olympic Committee
6.	National Olympic Committee of Pakistan
7.	National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka

Former members

Following is the list of former member countries of SAOC:

S. No.	Member	Joined	Left	Notes
1.	Afghanistan National Olympic Committee	2004	2016	Afghanistan joined Central Asian Games

SAOC Presidents

As per the Constitution of SAOC, the President of NOC hosting the next South Asian Games is the president of SAOC.

S. No.	Name	Country	Term
1.	Sarad Chandra Shah	Nepal	1983 – 1984
2.	Lt. Gen Hussain Muhammad Ershad	Bangladesh	1984 – 1985
3.	Vidya Charan Shukla	India	1985 – 1987
4.	Syed Wajid Ali	Pakistan	1987 – 1989
5.	Data Unavailable	Sri Lanka	1989 – 1991
6.	Mushfekur Rahman	Bangladesh	1991 – 1991
7.	Abdur Rouf	Bangladesh	1991 – 1991
8.	Nurul Momen	Bangladesh	1992 – 1992
9.	Gias Kamal Chowdhury	Bangladesh	1992 – 1993
10.	Suresh Kalmadi	India	1993 – 1995
11.	Gavinda Raj Joshi	Nepal	1995 – 1998
12.	Rukma Shamsher Rana	Nepal	1998 – 1999
13.	Syed Wajid Ali	Pakistan	1999 – 2004
14.	Data Unavailable	Sri Lanka	2004 – 2006
15.	General Moeen U Ahmed	Bangladesh	2006 – 2009
16.	General Md Abdul Mubeen	Bangladesh	2009 – 2010
17.	Suresh Kalmadi	India	2010 – 2011
Acting	Vijay Kumar Malhotra	India	2011 – 2012
18.	Abhay Singh Chautala	India	2012 – 2014
19.	Narayana Ramachandran	India	2014 – 2016
20.	Jeevan Ram Shrestha	Nepal	2016 – 2019
21.	Lt. Gen Syed Arif Hasan	Pakistan	2019 – present

Events

Competition	Edition	Top rank	Title	Runners-up	Most successful	Next edition
South Asian Games	Kathmandu and Pokhara 2019	India	13th	Nepal	India (13)	Lahore 2025
South Asian Winter Games	Dehradun and Auli 2011	India	1st	Pakistan	India (1)
South Asian Beach Games	Hambantota 2011	India	1st	Sri Lanka	India (1)

References

^ "About South Asia Olympic Council". 13SAG Nepal. 10 November 2019.
^ "It will be south Asian Games". Rediff Sports. 2 April 2004.

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[1] "About South Asia Olympic Council". 13SAG Nepal. 10 November 2019.

[2] "It will be south Asian Games". Rediff Sports. 2 April 2004.

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