ASIAN GAMES

The 'Asian Games', also called the 'Asiad', is a multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The games are regulated by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) under the supervision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Medals are awarded in each event, with gold for first place, silver for second and bronze for third, a tradition which started in 1951.
Competitors are entered by a National Olympic Committee (NOC) to represent their country of citizenship. National anthems and flags accompany the medal ceremonies, and tables showing the number of medals won by each country are widely used. In general only recognised nations are represented, but a few non-sovereign countries are allowed to take part. The special case of Taiwan was handled by having it compete as ''Chinese Taipei'', due to the political status of Taiwan.
The 15th Asian Games were held in Doha, Qatar from December 1 to December 15, 2006. The 16th Asian Games will be held in Guangzhou, China from November 12, 2010 to November 27, 2010.

Contents

History

Far Eastern Championship Games

Formation of the Asian Games

Reorganization of the Federation

Central Asian Expansion

List of Asian Games

List of sports

See also

External links

History

Far Eastern Championship Games

Main articles: Far Eastern Championship Games

The Asian Games owes its origins to small Asian multi-sport competitions. The Far Eastern Championship Games were created to show unity and cooperation among three nations: Empire of Japan, the Philippine Islands and the Republic of China. The first games were held in Manila in 1913. Other Asian nations participated after it was organized. It was discontinued in 1938 when Japan invaded China, which led to the expansion of World War II in the Pacific.

Formation of the Asian Games

After World War II, a number of Asian countries became independent. Many of the new independent Asian countries wanted to use a new type of competition where Asian dominance should not be shown by violence and should be strengthened by mutual understanding. In August 1948, during the 14th Olympic Games in London, Indian IOC representative Guru Dutt Sondhi proposed to sports leaders of the Asian teams the idea of having discussions about holding the Asian Games. They agreed to form the Asian Athletic Federation. A preparatory committee was set up to draft the charter for the Asian amateur athletic federation. In February, 1949, the Asian athletic federation was formally formed and used the name Asian Games Federation. It was decided to hold the first Asian Games in 1951 in New Delhi, the capital of India. They added that the Asian Games would be regularly held once every four years.

Reorganization of the Federation

In 1962, the Federation had a disagreement over the inclusion of Republic of China and Israel. Asian Games host Indonesia opposed the participation of Republic of China (due to the existence of People's Republic of China) and Israel. In 1970, South Korea dropped its plan to host the games due to security threats from North Korea, forcing previous host Thailand to administer the games in Bangkok using the funds of South Korea.
In 1973, the Federation had another disagreement after U.S. and other countries formally recognized the People's Republic of China and Arab nations' opposition to Israel.
In 1977, Pakistan dropped its plan to host the games due to conflicts with Bangladesh and India. Thailand offered to help and the games were held in Bangkok.
Due to events happened, the Asian NOCs decided to revise the constitution of the Asian Games Federation. A new association, named Olympic Council of Asia, was created. India was already scheduled to host the 1982 Games and OCA decided not to drop the old AGF timetable. OCA formally supervised the games starting from the 1986 Asian Games in South Korea.
In the succeeding games, Taiwan (Republic of China) was readmitted but OCA decided to follow the standards of the IOC for Taiwan to use the name ''Chinese Taipei''. The OCA also agreed to permanently exclude Israel as its member and requested the country to join into European competitions.

Central Asian Expansion

In the 1994 Asian Games, despite opposition from other nations, OCA admitted the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan.

List of Asian Games

Year	Games	Host City	Country
1951	I	New Delhi	India
1954	II	Manila	Philippines
1958	III	Tokyo	Japan
1962	IV	Jakarta	Indonesia
1966	V	Bangkok	Thailand
1970	VI 1	Bangkok	Thailand
1974	VII	Tehran	Iran
1978	VIII 2	Bangkok	Thailand
1982	IX	New Delhi	India
1986	X	Seoul	South Korea
1990	XI	Beijing	China
1994	XII	Hiroshima	Japan
1998	XIII	Bangkok	Thailand
2002	XIV	Busan	South Korea
2006	XV	Doha	Qatar
2010	XVI	Guangzhou	China
2014	XVII	Incheon	South Korea

¹ ''Originally hosted by South Korea''

² ''Originally hosted by Pakistan''

List of sports

These are the sports that have been and will be played at the Asian Games, with the years they played.

★ Athletics – All ★ Archery – since 1978 ★ Badminton – since 1962 ★ Baseball – since 1994 ★ Basketball – All ★ Billiards & Snooker – since 1998 ★ Bodybuilding – since 2002 ★ Bowling – 1978, since 1986 ★ Boxing – since 1954 ★ Canoeing – since 1982 ★ Chess – 2006 ★ Cycling – 1951, since 1958 ★ Equestrian – since 1982 ★ Fencing – 1974 to 1978, since 1986

★ Football – All ★ Golf – since 1982 ★ Gymnatics – since 1974 ★ Handball – since 1982 ★ Hockey – since 1958 ★ Judo – since 1986 ★ Kabaddi – since 1990 ★ Karatedo – since 1994 ★ Modern Pentathlon – 1994, 2002 ★ Rowing – since 1990 ★ Rugby – since 1998 ★ Sailing – since 1978 ★ Sepak Takraw – since 1990

★ Squash – since 1998 ★ Shooting – since 1954 ★ Softball – since 1990 ★ Soft tennis – since 1994 ★ Swimming – All ★ Table tennis – since 1958 ★ Taekwondo – since 1986 ★ Tennis – since 1958 ★ Triathlon – 2006 ★ Volleyball – since 1958 ★ Weightlifting – 1951 to 1958, 1966, since 1974 ★ Wrestling – since 1954 ★ Wushu – since 1994

See also

★ Asian Winter Games

★ Asian Indoor Games

★ Asian Beach Games

★ Asian Games medal count

External links

★ 2006 Asian Games Doha Official Website

★ 2010 Asian Games Guangzhou Official Website

★ Olympic Council of Asia