South Asian Games 2027 in Pakistan: Dates, Venues, How to Watch

The South Asian Games 2027 will be held in Pakistan from 3 to 11 April 2027, with events in Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar. Islamabad is the main host, with the opening ceremony and 15 of the 28 sports. Lahore has 10, including cricket, hockey and swimming, and Peshawar has three: archery, judo and volleyball. It is the 14th edition and the first in Pakistan since 2004, and the competition schedule, tickets and broadcaster have not been announced yet.

This guide sets out what has been confirmed and what has not, which sport is in which city, where the venues are and how to reach them, the clash with PSL 12, and how we would plan a visit. It reflects reports up to 19 October 2026. The organisers are expected to release much more over the winter, so check the details nearer the time.

When exactly are the Games, and why do dates differ online?

The South Asia Olympic Council's executive committee approved 3 to 11 April 2027 at a meeting in Islamabad on Sunday 23 August 2026. It was chaired by Arif Saeed, who heads both the council and the Pakistan Olympic Association. Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka attended in person and India joined by video link (Dawn, The Express Tribune). The council's release, published on the Olympic Council of Asia's website, gives the same dates.

There is one wrinkle. When the federal steering committee, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, met on 5 September, its statement gave the dates as 4 to 11 April (APP). Nobody has explained the difference. Until a day-by-day schedule appears, treat Saturday 3 April as the earliest possible start and don't book anything that depends on the first day.

Older dates are still circulating online: 23 to 31 January 2026, and 23 to 31 March 2027. Both have been replaced. Wikipedia also has a page titled "2026 South Asian Games" that still shows the March dates.

The April slot is clear of Ramadan. Eid ul Fitr is expected around 9 to 11 March 2027, depending on the moon, so the Games open more than three weeks after Eid and after Pakistan Day on 23 March.

Why has Pakistan waited so long to host?

Pakistan was named host in December 2019, as the last Games ended in Nepal, and the event was meant to take place in 2021. Since then the date has moved again and again:

The host cities have changed as well. As late as July 2026, ProPakistani reported Lahore, Islamabad and Faisalabad as hosts. On 31 July the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor, Faisal Karim Kundi, called the province's exclusion "regrettable" and said the Peshawar Sports Complex had international-standard facilities (APP). At the August meeting Peshawar replaced Faisalabad. Handball, which The Express Tribune had reported for Faisalabad, now sits in Lahore, and volleyball was moved to Peshawar (The News).

The April plan is the firmest yet. It has dates agreed by the full council, a three-city venue plan, a federal steering committee that meets monthly, and money: in September the Central Development Working Party approved a Rs 5.7 billion sports infrastructure package for the Games (APP). Even so, this event has slipped every time a date was set since 2021, so we would not pay for anything non-refundable until the competition schedule is published.

Which sports are in Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar?

This is the split The News reported after the August meeting, with the venues named so far:

Twenty-eight sports and 346 medal events is the organisers' figure. The Express Tribune adds that 28 sports are for men and 25 for women. You may see longer lists online that include esports, chess or lacrosse. They do not match the split the organisers announced in August, so go by the 28.

Islamabad has more than half the sports, but Lahore has the two that draw the biggest Pakistani crowds: cricket and hockey.

Where are the venues, and how do you reach them?

All three host clusters are close to an airport, and two are a motorway drive from Islamabad. The distances below are road distances we measured with OSRM, the open-source routing engine, on 19 October 2026. They are not drive times, which depend on traffic and on road closures on event days.

Islamabad: the Pakistan Sports Complex and Rawal Lake

The Pakistan Sports Complex covers about 145 acres beside the Srinagar Highway, the old Kashmir Highway. The Pakistan Sports Board runs it, and it was the main venue for both earlier Games in Islamabad. Inside are Jinnah Stadium, the outdoor stadium where the opening ceremony is planned, Liaquat Gymnasium, the Rodham, Hamidi and Amir Khan halls, the Naseer Bunda Hockey Stadium and the Roshan Khan Squash Complex. The Rs 5.7 billion package approved in September names a full upgrade of the complex (APP).

Not every Islamabad sport is in the complex. The council's delegation also inspected a shooting range and Rawal Lake, the expected rowing venue, and visited the Pakistan Tennis Federation's complex, the proposed tennis venue (The Nation, APP). The lake is a short drive east: Lake View Park, the main visitor area on its shore, is about 9 km by road from Jinnah Stadium. Our Rawal Lake guide explains how the lake, the dam and the park fit together.

If you are staying in Rawalpindi, Saddar is about 15 km from Jinnah Stadium by road. Driving up from Lahore, our guide to the M-2 between Lahore and Islamabad covers tolls, rest areas and timing.

Lahore: Nishtar Park and Hafeez Kardar Road

Lahore's big grounds stand side by side on Hafeez Kardar Road: Gaddafi Stadium, the National Hockey Stadium and Punjab Stadium. Next to them, the Sports Board Punjab's Nishtar Park Sports Complex includes the Punjab International Swimming Complex, a boxing complex, a gymnasium, a tennis stadium and squash courts. Gaddafi and Punjab Stadium are only about 300 metres apart, and between them these grounds have facilities for most of Lahore's sports. Golf is the obvious exception.

The organisers have not published which Lahore sport goes to which venue. Delegates were shown videos of the Lahore venues in August rather than visiting them. The unofficial list on Wikipedia puts cricket at Gaddafi, hockey at the National Hockey Stadium, handball and rugby at Punjab Stadium, swimming at the swimming complex, boxing at the boxing arena, and fencing, taekwondo and wrestling in Nishtar Park halls. That is a reasonable guess, not an announcement, and no golf course has been named. Our Gaddafi Stadium guide covers parking, match-day traffic and what you can take through the gates on this block.

Peshawar: the Peshawar Sports Complex

The Peshawar Sports Complex is built around Qayyum Stadium, which holds 15,000, on Saddar Road in Peshawar Cantonment. A gymnasium hall, a smaller hall, squash courts and a sportsmen's hostel were added when the complex was developed in the 1980s (Wikipedia). It is about 2 km by road from Bacha Khan International Airport and 189 km from Jinnah Stadium, most of it on the M-1 motorway. With three sports out of 28, Peshawar's share of the Games is the smallest of the three cities.

Can you get tickets, and how will you watch on TV?

Not yet, on either count. As of 19 October no organiser has said whether entry will be ticketed or free, what it might cost or how spectators will be admitted, and we could not find an official Games website. No broadcaster or streaming partner has been named. PTV Sports, the state channel, is the obvious candidate in Pakistan, but that is our expectation, not an announcement.

The council's August review listed accommodation, transport, Games handbooks, pre-launch activities and a "100 Days to Go" milestone among the items it checked (OCA). A hundred days before 3 April is Thursday 24 December 2026. If you are waiting for ticket and TV news, that is when we would look first, and the POA, the Pakistan Sports Board and the OCA website are the places to watch.

Expect heavy security whatever the ticketing. ProPakistani reported in July that athletes would stay in Games villages under strict protection. Dar's steering committee reviewed security, transport, accommodation and medical arrangements, and Gulf News reported security as a key priority. In practice, carry your CNIC, expect bag checks, and expect roads around Jinnah Stadium to close on ceremony days.

Which events are worth the effort? Cricket and hockey in Lahore should draw the biggest crowds. Athletics at Jinnah Stadium has the strongest story: Arshad Nadeem won the javelin at the last Games, in Kathmandu in 2019, with a Games record of 86.29 metres that booked his place at the Tokyo Olympics, and he won Olympic gold in Paris in 2024 with 92.97 metres. No entries have been announced, so don't assume any particular athlete will compete.

Does it clash with PSL 12?

Yes, completely. The PCB confirmed on 8 October that PSL 12 will run from 18 March to 2 May 2027 with all eight franchises (APP, The Express Tribune). The Games fall in the middle of it. The PCB says the match schedule, venues and ticketing will follow later.

The clash matters most in Lahore. PSL 11 was played only in Lahore and Karachi, and its final at Gaddafi drew a record crowd of 32,461 (APP). If Lahore hosts PSL matches in the Games week, and the Games' cricket is also at Gaddafi as the unofficial list says, one of them will have to play somewhere else on those days. Neither the PCB nor the organisers has said how this will work. Expect busier hotels and roads around Hafeez Kardar Road on PSL match nights either way.

If you want to see both, the overlap lets you combine them in one trip, but wait until both schedules are out before you book.

Where should you stay, and what is the weather like?

Islamabad will be the tightest. Dawn reported that Pakistan is preparing for about 4,000 athletes and other foreign visitors, and that the Capital Development Authority is arranging accommodation for them alongside a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation conference and an OIC meeting planned for Islamabad in 2027. The steering committee's own figure for athletes and officials is more than 6,000 (APP). If you know you are going, book a refundable room in Islamabad early, or look at Rawalpindi, whose Saddar area is about 15 km from the Sports Complex.

Early April is warm rather than hot in Islamabad and Peshawar, and already hot in Lahore. These are the April averages for 1991 to 2020 (Wikipedia):

Islamabad and Peshawar get more spring showers, which matters for outdoor events like rowing and archery. In Lahore, take a cap, water and sunscreen for afternoon sessions in the open stands.

Is Peshawar safe to visit for the Games?

Pakistani visitors travel to Peshawar every week, but this is a real question in 2026. The UK government's travel advice, last updated on 13 October, advises against all travel to Peshawar, including the city. It does not name Islamabad or Lahore on its lists of places to avoid. Read the current UK advice for Pakistan, and if you hold another passport, your own government's advice too: travelling against it can void your travel insurance.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has also been under an emergency and governor's rule since 11 October 2026. That day all entry and exit points to Peshawar Cantonment, where the Sports Complex stands, were closed and the BRT was suspended. The BRT was restored on 13 October, and the district administration banned gatherings in Peshawar for seven days (Dawn). Governor Kundi, who argued for Peshawar's place in the Games, now runs the province. Our guide to the KP emergency and what it means for travel explains the restrictions, and our guide to whether Peshawar is safe sets out the wider picture.

Nobody can say what the situation will be in April. If you plan to watch archery, judo or volleyball in Peshawar, check local news and police advice the day before, keep to the venue and central areas in daylight, and be ready to change plans.

Will India take part?

This is the biggest open question. India topped the medal table at the last Games in Pakistan, in 2004, with 103 golds to Pakistan's 38, and again in Nepal in 2019, with 175 golds; Pakistan finished fourth there with 30. Its contingent shapes the competition in athletics, kabaddi and wrestling.

The signals so far are mixed. India's delegate joined the August meeting by video and endorsed the dates, and The News reported that India had confirmed its participation. Dawn quoted another source saying it could not yet be confirmed. MyKhel reported a New Delhi source saying the Indian Olympic Association would follow the Indian government's policy on events in Pakistan, and noted that India had recently declined to send a team to a volleyball tournament in Islamabad. The POA's secretary general has said India's contingent details are expected in January 2027 (Gulf News). When Pakistan hosted the 2025 Champions Trophy, India played all its matches in Dubai.

Is it worth planning a trip around the Games?

If you live in Islamabad, Rawalpindi or Lahore, yes. A regional multi-sport event on your doorstep, with sports you rarely see live in Pakistan, is worth an afternoon or two once the schedule is out. Families of athletes and fans of hockey, athletics or squash have the most reason to travel.

If you are coming from further away, wait. With no schedule, no ticketing and six years of postponements behind it, the Games are not yet something to build a holiday around. For a cricket fan, PSL 12 is the bigger draw and runs for six weeks around the Games. Foreign visitors thinking of Peshawar should read their government's advice first.

A sensible plan is to treat the Games as one part of a spring trip. Early April is a good time to be in Islamabad and Lahore before the summer heat. If you have more time, the trips we plan in the north start a short flight from Islamabad, though the highest roads usually stay shut until May or June.

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