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 1950.

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 disagreements over the political status of Taiwan.

The games are dominated by athletes from Japan, the People's Republic of China and South Korea.

The 15th Asian Games will be held in Doha, Qatar on November 27 to December 15, 2006.

History

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, Philippine Islands and Republic of China. The first games were held in Manila in 1913. Other East Asian nations participated after its organized. It was discontinued in 1938 when Japan invaded China and consequently annexed the Philippines which led to the extension 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 want to use a new type of competition where Asian dominance cannot be used by violence and should be strengthen 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 due to its unfair treatment of Arabs. 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 nation's 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.

Western Expansion

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

List of Asian Indoor Games

List of Asian Beach Games

2008 Asian Beach Games, Bali, Indonesia

Participating countries

Code	Nation / IOC designation	First use	ISO-code	Notes
AFG		1936	AFG
BAN		1984	BGD
BHU		1984	BTN
BRN		1984	BHR
BRU	(IOC designation: Brunei Darussalam)	1988	BRN
CAM		1956	CAM
CHN	(IOC designation: People's Republic of China)	1932	CHN	Republic of China as "China" 1932-1956 current usage began 1984
HKG		1952	HKG	designated "" 1952-1996 current usage began 2000
IND		1900	IND
INA		1956	IDN	IHO 1952 FIFA-code IDN
IRI	(IOC designation: Islamic Republic of Iran)	1948	IRN	FIFA-code IRN
IRQ		1948	IRQ
JOR		1968	JOR
JPN		1912	JPN
KAZ		1996	KAZ	part of RUS 1900-1912 part of URS 1924-1988
KGZ		1996	KGZ	part of RUS 1900-1912 part of URS 1924-1988
KOR	(IOC designation: Korea)	1948	KOR
KSA		1972	SAU
KUW		1968	KWT
LAO	(IOC designation: Lao People's Democratic Republic)	1980	LAO
LIB		1948	LBN
MAC		-	MAC	without IOC recognition
MAS		1956	MYS
MDV		1988	MDV
MGL		1964	MNG
MYA		1996	MMR	BIR 1948-1992
NEP		1964	NPL
OMA		1984	OMN
PAK		1948	PAK
PHI		1924	PHL
PLE	(IOC designation: Palestine)	1996	PSE	FIFA-code PAL
PRK		1972	PRK
QAT		1984	QAT
SIN		1948	SGP
SRI		1948	LKA
SYR	(IOC designation: Syrian Arab Republic)	1948	SYR
THA		1952	THA
TJK		1996	TJK	part of RUS 1900-1912 part of URS 1924-1988
TKM		1996	TKM	part of RUS 1900-1912 part of URS 1924-1988 part of EUN 1992
TLS		2004	TLS	IOA 2000
TPE	also known as Republic of China (Taiwan) (IOC designation: Chinese Taipei)	1984	TWN	as "China" CHN 1932-1956 as "Taiwan" TAI 1960-1964 as "Republic of China" ROC 1968-1972 current usage began 1984
UAE		1984	ARE
UZB		1996	UZB	part of RUS 1900-1912 part of URS 1924-1988
VIE	(IOC designation: Viet Nam)	1952	VNM
YEM		1992	YEM

Sports

External links

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