SEA Games sports

This is a list of sports played in the biennial Southeast Asian Games. Unlike the Olympic Games, there are no official limits to the number of sports which may be contested, and the range may be decided by the organising host pending approval by the Southeast Asian Games Federation. Albeit for some core sports which must be featured, the host is also free to introduce other sports. Over time, this has meant as much as 43 sports in the 24th edition of the games, and the programme has included relatively obscure sports such as arnis, finswimming and pétanque.
In the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, medals in 56 different sports were contested—the most in its history.

History

The Southeast Asian Peninsular Games, as the Southeast Asian Games was then known, was first held in Bangkok in 1959 with 12 sports, namely aquatics, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, cycling, football, shooting, table tennis, tennis, volleyball, and weightlifting.

SEAGF Charter and Rules

Before and up to 2023, the SEAGF Charter and Rules dictated that the following sports be on the program:

Minimum of 22 sports
* Category 1: Aquatics and Athletics
* Category 2 : Sports at the Olympic and Asian Games
* Category 3 : Regional/Traditional sports

In 2023, the charter was modified to specify the following:

Minimum of 36 sports
* Category 1A: Aquatics and Athletics
* Category 1B : Sports at the Summer Olympic Games
* Category 2 : Sports at the:
** Olympic Games
** Asian Games
** Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games
* Category 3 : Regional/Traditional sports

Sports

The following sports are part of the current program or were contested before, and are listed alphabetically according to the name used by the IOC. The figures in each cell indicate the number of events for each sport contested at the respective Games; a bullet denotes that the sport was contested as a demonstration sport. A "Y" is used to indicate that a sport was played, but the number of events is not yet established. An "X" is used to indicate a sport that is set to be included in a future event.
Twelve of the sports consist of multiple disciplines. Disciplines from the same sport are grouped under the same colour:
Aquatics –
Baseball and softball –
Basketball –
Cycling –
Equestrian –
Football –
Gymnastics –
Volleyball –
Winter sports –
Wrestling

Non-Olympic sports

The SEA Games features numerous non-Olympic sports in its programme, reflecting the popularity of some sports to the region, or as a means of introducing more obscure sports to the region and beyond. Some sports dropped from the Olympic programme may still be retained in the SEAG, although the games does not feature all of the Olympic sports, often in favour of the traditional ones.

Sport	Introduced	Remarks
Billiards and snooker	1987	Also in Asian Games, East Asian Games
Bodybuilding	1987	Also in Asian Games
Bowling	1975	Also in Asian Games, Asian Youth Games, East Asian Games, Pan American Games, Special Olympics World Games, West Asian Games, World Games
Chess	2003	Also in Asian Games
Dancesport	2005	Former Olympic sport, also in Asian Games, East Asian Games, World Games
Esports	2019	Also in Asian Games
Finswimming	2003	Also in World Games
Futsal	2007	Also in Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games
Karate	1987	Former Olympic sport, also in Asian Games, East Asian Games, South Asian Games, West Asian Games
Lawn bowls	1999
Pétanque	2001	Also in World Games
Polo	2007	Former Olympic sport
Rugby union	1967	Former Olympic sport, also in Asian Games, East Asian Games
Softball	1979	Former Olympic sport, also in Asian Games, Pan American Games
Squash	1991	To be an Olympic sport, also in Asian Games, East Asian Games, South Asian Games, West Asian Games, Pan American Games
Teqball	2023 2025	Also in Asian Youth Games
Traditional boat race	1993	Also in Asian Games, Asian Beach Games, East Asian Games
Waterskiing	1987	Also in Asian Beach Games, Pan American Games
Woodball	2025	Also in Asian Beach Games
Wushu	1991	Also in Asian Games, East Asian Games, South Asian Games