Bangladesh signed off their campaign in the 11th South Asian Games Dhaka 2010 by winning 18 gold medals, their highest haul in the history of the regional multi-sports event. The golden tally earned the hosts third place in the final medals table, behind India (90) and Pakistan (19), which marked an unprecedented success for Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh Olympic Association had expected to win a maximum of 17 gold medals, but the athletes proved they were capable of achieving more -- despite their failures in the two key disciplines of athletics and swimming.

Bangladesh's female athletes did an excellent job in winning medals and made the nation proud, even though their numbers (101) were less than half the size of the men’s team (231). The female athletes won eight gold medals compared to the 10 earned by their male teammates.

One of the highlights for the home team was their success in the football tournament. Bangladesh had failed to reach the semifinals in the last two editions but this time they not only won gold but also won all their matches, topped off by a 4-0 victory over Afghanistan in the final. It was only their second football gold in the South Asian Games, 11 years after their previous victory at the 1999 Katmandu Games.

The footballers’ success came a day after the host cricket team beat Sri Lanka by six runs to win the gold in the 20-20 tournament.

Karate proved to be a big surprise as Bangladesh won four gold medals, while the more traditional sport of shooting reaped three gold medals.

The 18 gold medals for the hosts were comprised of: 4, karate; 3, shooting; 2, boxing, golf, wushu and taekwondo; 1, football, cricket, weightlifting.