Khanewal-born prime Jevelin thrower Arshad Nadeem qualified for 2020 Olympics by raising the Green flag with the first position in the ongoing South Asian Games 2019 in Kathmandu, Nepal.
South Asian Games 2019
The South Asian Games (SAF Games, SAG, or SA games, and formerly known as South Asian Federation Games) is a biennial multi-sport event held among the athletes from South Asia. The governing body of these games is South Asia Olympic Council (SAOC).
The first South Asian Games were hosted by Kathmandu, Nepal in 1984. From 1984 to 1987 they were held every year except 1986, as it was a year of Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. From 1987 on-wards, they have been held every two years except for some occasions. In 2004, it was decided in the 32nd meeting of South Asian Sports Council to rename the games from South Asian Federation Games to South Asian Games as the officials believed the word Federation was diminishing the emphasis on event and acting as a barrier in attracting crowd.
At present, SAG 2019 are joined by seven members namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. SAG 2019 was hosted by Nepal and games were played in Kathmandu and Pokhara from 1st to 10th December, 2019.
The 2019 SAG featured 27 sports with Paragliding making it debut and Cricket returning after 8 years. Golf and Karate were the two sports added by the hosts as their choice. The highest number of events (20) were contested in Swimming while Athletics hosted the next most with 19.
Total 27 sports are namely stated below:
| Archery | Football | Shooting |
| Athetics | Golf | Squash |
| Badminton | Handball | Table Tennis |
| Basketball | Judo | Taekwondo |
| Beach Volleyball | Karate | Tennis |
| Boxing | Kabbadi | Triathlon |
| Cricket | Kho-Kho | Weightlifting |
| Cycling | Paragliding | Wrestling |
| Fencing | Swimming | Wushu |
Pakistan fielded its players in a total of 20 different sports which include: Tennis, Table Tennis, Athletics, Handball, Taekwondo, Kabbadi, Badminton, Football, Swimming, Karate, Wrestling, Weightlifting, Boxing, Squash, Volleyball, Beach Volleyball, Judo, Wushu and Cycling.
*Karate Squad of Pakistan: Iqra Anwar (-45 KG), Sabira Gul (-50 KG), Sana Kausar (-55 KG), Naz Gul (-61 KG), Kulsoom (-68 KG), Nargis (+68 KG), Shahida (Individual Kata), Nouman Ahmed (-50 KG), Murad Khan (-55 kKG), Zafar Iqbal (-60 KG), Naseer Ahmed (-67 KG), Saadi Abbas (-75 KG), Mohammad Awais (-84 KG), Baz Mohammad (+84 KG), Rehman Ullah (Team Kumite), Shehbaz Khan (Team Kumite), Niamat Ullah (Individual Kata).
*Pakistan Men's Volleyball Squad: Aimal Khan (Captain), Abdullah, Mubashir Raza, Mohammad Idrees, Mohammad Kashif Naved, Murad, Abdul Zaheer, Fahad Raza, Nasir Ali, Usman Faryad Ali, Farooq Haider, Hamid Yazman, Mohammad Usman.
*Pakistan Tennis Squad:
Men’s Team: Muzammil Murtaza and Abid Ali.
Women’s Team: Ushna Sohail, Sara Mansoor, Sarah Mahboob and Maheen Aftab.
*Pakistan Badminton Squad: Murad Ali, Awais Zahid, Hasnain Raja Muhammad, Atique Muhammad, Tahir Muhammad Muqeet, Mahoor Shahzad, Palwasha Bashir, Akram Sehra, Javeed Huma, Siddique Ghazala, Qayyum Bushra, Zahid Awais, Hasnain Raja Muhammad.
*Pakistan Taekwondo Squad: Mehrun Nisa, Shabaz Ahmed, Mohammad Mumtaz, Asifa Ali, Muhammad Waseem Javed, Syeda Aleena Batool, Sophiya Nayab Baig, Phool Zaheer, Iqra Zaheer, Muhammad Anas, Wajeehul Hassar and Muhammad Hizer Khan.
*Pakistan Beach Volleyball Squad: Waseem Muhammad, Razzaq Muhammad, Khan Afaq and Khan Zarnab.
*Pakistan Handball Squad: Ali Asif, Hussain Muzammal, Bashir Muhammad Sahid, Saeed Asim, Ali Muaaz, Zubair Muhammad, Hussain Hazrat, Hussain Umar, Hayat Asif, Hussain Nasir, Naveed Ur Rehman, Atif Muhammad Uzair, Khan Imran and Ashraf Muhammad Mubeen.
*Pakistan Weightlifting Squad: Talib Talha, Sufyan Abu, Ali Haider, Rehman Abdur, Zhuaib Male, Rothore Usman Amjad, Butt Hanzala Dastgir, Butt Muhammad Nooh Dastgir, Veronika Sohail, Saima Shahzad, Saniha Ghafoor, Sonia Azmat, Rabbia Razzaq, Twinkle Sohail, Zara Zubair, Ali Haider, Rehman Abdur, Zhuaib, Rothore Usman Amjad, Butt Hanzala Dastgir and Butt Muhammad Nooh Dastgir.
*Pakistan Fencing Squad: Iqra Asif, Khadija Fatima, Fariha Haneef, Sidra Ashraf, Ali Saeed Ud Din, Mehmood Sharif, Muhammad Sharif, Khalid, Nazar Abbas , Zaheer Mushtaq and Kashif Ali.
*Pakistan Judo Squad: Shah Hussain Shah, Hamid Ali, Qaiser Khan, Karamat Butt, Beenish Khan,Humaira Ashiq , Amina Toyoda and Mohammad Hasnain.
