India doing well at games that are brain child of an Indian. Read to know about history of Asian Games.

Swapna Burman, a name that was hardly heard of a week ago, is a popular household name now and a name that means national pride, and a story of fighting against circumstances to achieve success. Manjit Singh, Jinson Johnson, Neeraj Chopra, Arpinder Singh are few among many more such champions who have inspiring stories of success despite adverse circumstances. That’s what sports do best, bring out the real-life champions, who not only excel at their discipline of sport but also are great fighter and exhibit exemplary perseverance when conditions and circumstances do not favor them. All they need is a stage to express themselves while the world watches. The 18^th edition of Asian games provided that stage and revealed a new generation of Indian sports-persons, who are the new generation role models. As I write this, the closing ceremony of the Asian games is about to commence, and India for sure will be a proud contingent.

Asian games, the quadrennial multi-sport event played between Asian countries, is also known as Asiad and the current edition is underway at Jakarta and Palembang in Indonesia. India’s great performance at these games have brought more people to follow the games than before. With 45 countries participating in the 18^th edition of the games, India stands at 8^th place in the medal tally with a total of 69 medals (15 gold, 24 silver and 30 bronze).

As we celebrate this success, let us find a bit about the history of the Asian games.

Formation of Asian Games Federation and First Asian Games

Before Asian games came into existence, another sporting event, with participation of eastern countries like China, Japan and Philippines, known as ‘The Far Eastern Games’ existed from 1912 to 1934. They were discontinued as an aftermath of the second Sino-Japanese war and 1938 edition of the games did not happen.

After WW-II, many Asian countries got independence and wanted to have a sporting competition to express unity among Asian countries. At 1948 summer Olympics, proposals were made by China and Philippines to resume ‘The Far Eastern Games’. However, Indian representative at International Olympic Committee, Mr Guru Dutt Sondhi believed that the Asian countries needed a federation and games of much larger scale to display unity and showcase the sporting talent appropriately. He presented the idea of a new federation and games, which materialized, and the Asian Games Federation and the Asian Games came into existence, and the first edition of the games announced to be held in 1950, at New Delhi. Mr. Sondhi is remembered as the founder of Asian Games Federation.

Crisis and Controversies:

The Asian games have been hit by many controversies few of which are mentioned below.

n   In 1962, host country Indonesia refused to permit Israel and Taiwan to participate. It was done due to political and religious reasons. The International Olympic Committee suspended the membership of Indonesia and withdrew its sponsorship of the games as well

n   In 1970, the games were scheduled to take place in South Korea. But due to security and financial reasons, South Korea refused to host the games. Japan was asked to host the games but with work fair Expo ’70 being hosted at Osaka around same time, Japan also refused. The previous Host Thailand came to rescue, and the games were held at Bangkok for second time consecutively.

n   1978 edition of games was scheduled to be held in Pakistan. In 1975, citing political and financial issues, Pakistan refused to host the games. Games were again held in Bangkok as Thailand was again the one to help.

However, the games emerged out of various such crisis and controversies, proving the age old saying that it is ultimately the sport which is the winner.

Nerd note 1: Amid all the controversies and crisis between 1960 to 1980, the Asian games Federation was dissolved and re-constituted as Olympic Council of Asia in 1982.

Nerd note 2: 1994 Asian games, or the 12^th Asiad, was held at Hiroshima, Japan. It was the first instance of games being held at a city other than the capital city of the hosting Nation. As the theme of the edition was to promote peace and unity, Japan chose the site of first atomic bomb attack.

Nerd note 3: The current edition of Asian games saw the addition of cards game ‘Bridge’ as one of the competitive games. India won gold in men’s pair category of the game with Pranab Bardhan and Shibhnath Sarkar bringing laurels to the nation.

Nerd Note 4: Cricket was also included in 2010 and 2014 edition of Asian games, but India chose not to participate, citing other commitments.

We also wrote a post about history of Commonwealth Games. Read here to know more about it.

At WittyScribble, we salute all the sportspersons who work tirelessly to bring honor to the nation. Competitive sports build qualities like temperament, concentration and above all sportsman spirit. Wittyscribble encourages everyone to pursue sports as fitness activity and as a means of overall physical and psychological development for kids.

And as always,
Thanks for reading.

Ayush!!!