The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union of states in South Asia. Its member states are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. SAARC comprises 3% of the world's land area, 21% of the world's population and 5.21% of the global economy, as of 2021.
The Bhutan national football team represents Bhutan in men's international football. The team is controlled by the governing body for football in Bhutan, the Bhutan Football Federation, which is a member of the Asian Football Federation and the regional body the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). The national football team of Bhutan plays its home games at the national stadium, Changlimithang.
The Maldives national football team represents the Maldives in international football and is controlled by the Football Association of Maldives. It is a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
Ethnic groups in South Asia are ethnolinguistic groupings within the diverse populations of South Asia, including the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan is variously considered to be a part of both Central Asia and South Asia, which means Afghans are not always included among South Asians, but when they are, South Asia has a total population of about 2.04 billion.
The India men's national basketball team represents India in international men's basketball. It is controlled by the Basketball Federation of India.
South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) is an association of the football playing nations in South Asia which is a regional subsidiary of Asian Football Confederation, incorporated in 1997. The members of the association are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The Bangladesh women's national football team is the women's national association football team of Bangladesh controlled by the Bangladesh Football Federation under the supervision of the women's football committee. It is a member of the Asian Football Confederation and has yet to qualify for the World Cup or an AFC Women's Asian Cup finals.
The 2013 South Asian Football Federation Championship, commonly referred to as 2013 SAFF Championship, was the 10th SAFF Championship for men's national football teams organized by the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). The tournament took place from 31 August to 11 September 2013, and was hosted by Nepal for the second time, with the previous being in 1997.
Mohamed Zilaal is a Maldivian retired basketball player. He is regarded by both peers and contemporaries as the greatest Maldivian player of his generation. In 16 professional seasons, Zilaal accumulated more championship medals and individual achievement awards than any other player in history. He also retired with the most starts, minutes and points for the Maldives senior men's national basketball team, including captaining the team to its best result to date in international competition – a silver medal in the 2016 SABA Qualification Tournament in Bangalore, India. He made his international debut while still in school. Standing at 5 ft 8 in, Zilaal played both point guard and shooting guard. Mohamed Zilaal, commonly known as Zila, was scouted heavily while still in secondary school in Majeediyyaa School in Male'. His early mentorship and coaching was overseen by the then Maldives coaches Shiyam and Ilyas and Supun Wimal of Sri Lanka. After playing one tournament for Unitours, he joined Victory Sports Club, with whom he won the national tournament 6 times out of 8 seasons. He was a vital cog in the Maldives senior men's national basketball team from his final year in school all the way up to his retirement in 2019. After playing one successful seasons for the then newly formed T-Rex Basketball Club, Zilaal transferred to then newly promoted Red Line Club (RLC). He would go on to spend four successful seasons at RLC before joining Kings Basketball Club upon its formation in 2017. Throughout his 3-year stint at Kings BC, he would captain the team in every single season, while adding to his record breaking collection of winners' and top 5 players' medals. Immediately after leading Kings BC to its first National Basketball Tournament success in 2018, Zila announced that the 2019 season would be his 16th and final as a player, both for club and country. In his final season, he would end his domestic career by carrying Kings BC to an undefeated triumph in the MBA Championship, followed by a packed schedule of international tournaments and tours, representing his country as captain in every single game until he hung up his sneakers in December 2019. From the early stages of his playing career, Zilaal was heavily involved in the youth development programmes of the Maldives Basketball Association (MBA), through which he completed FIBA Coaching certifications and refresher courses, including a Level-2 licenses, and continued to train children and youths, including assignments as Head Coach of Iskandar School in domestic interschool tournaments, as well as through the Ballers Academy, of which he was a co-founder. He continues to be active in coaching even after his 2019 retirement.
The Neighbourhood First policy of India is a core component of India's foreign policy. It focuses on peaceful relations and collaborative, synergetic co-development with its South Asian neighbours of the Indian subcontinent encompassing a diverse range of topics, such as economics, technology, research, education, connectivity, the space program, defence security, and addressing environment and climate challenge. This policy creates new avenues while leveraging to the existing regional cooperation initiatives such as SAARC, SASEC, BBIN, and BIMSTEC. It complements India's Look East policy focused on Southeast Asia and Look West Policy focused on Middle East.
The 2014 FIBA Asia Under-18 Championship qualification was held in late 2013 and early 2014 with the Gulf region, West Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, Central Asia and South Asia each conducting tournaments.
The 2015 SABA Championship was the 4th SABA Championship, and the qualifying event in the SABA subzone, one of the FIBA Asia's subzone for the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship. The games were held from 3 July to 5 July in Bengaluru, India. The tournament was originally set to be hosted in Bangladesh.
The 2016 SABA Women's Championship was the 1st SABA Women's Championship. The tournament was held from 29 March to 2 April in Kathmandu, Nepal. Five (5) teams are reported to join the women's maiden tournament for SABA subzone, one of FIBA Asia's subzone. India, Pakistan and Afghanistan were reportedly not seeing action in the five-day competition.
The 2016 SABA Championship was the 5th SABA Championship, and the qualifying event in the SABA subzone, one of the FIBA Asia's subzone for the 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge. The games were held from 6 July to 8 July in Bengaluru, India.
The 2019 South Asian Games, officially the XIII South Asian Games, was a major multi-sport event which was originally slated to be held from 9 to 18 March 2019 in Kathmandu and Pokhara, Nepal. However, the dates were postponed and the event was held from 1–10 December 2019, coincidentally at the same time as the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines. The new dates were confirmed at the South Asian Olympic Council Executive Board meeting in Bangkok on 1 March 2019. The Dasarath Stadium hosted the opening ceremony along with the men's football tournament, with the stadium's renovation after the 2015 earthquake completed in under 10 months with an increased capacity of 20,000, along with the closing ceremony on 10 December.
Qualification for the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup were held to determine the participants in the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup. Lebanon secured qualification by being named as hosts. The other fifteen berths were disputed per FIBA Asia zone, and via the 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge.
The 2017 SABA Championship is the 6th SABA Championship, and the qualifying event in the SABA sub-zone, one of the FIBA Asia's subzone for the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup and 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup Asian Qualifiers. The games were held from 19 to 23 May in Malé, Maldives. India successfully defended their SABA crown after sweeping the whole tournament. With this win, they qualified for the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup and the first round of the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup Asian Qualifiers. The tournament followed a single round robin format.
The 2022 FIBA Asia Cup qualification was a basketball competition that was played from February 2018 to August 2021, to determine the fifteen FIBA Asia-Oceania nations who would join the automatically qualified host Indonesia at the 2022 FIBA Asia Cup.
The 2021 SABA Championship was the 8th SABA Championship, and also known as Bangabandhu 6th South Asian Basketball Championship. The games were held from 15 to 19 November in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Aside from the host country, other confirmed participants are from India, Sri Lanka and Maldives.
Nepal 
India (2nd title)
