Asian Games History

Asian Games is a continental multi-disciplinary sporting event played once every four years. It is the second biggest multi-sporting event in the world after the Olympics. The prestigious games are recognised by the International Olympic Committee.

Asian Games History

Asian Games' History is rooted back to 1913 when ‘First Oriental Olympic Games’ was first held in Philippine Islands’ Manilla in 1913. Six countries -- China, Japan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand-- participated in eight games. Two years later in 1915, the named changed to the ‘Far Eastern Championship Games’. Ten games were held until 1934 before the 1938 games was cancelled due to the spurt between Japan and China.

With the most of countries gaining independence post World War II, Asian Sports Leaders decided to host a revive the ‘Far Eastern Championship Games’ in the sidelines of the 1948 London Olympic Games. However, a member of the Indian International Olympic Committee,

Guru Dutt Sondhi, proposed a completely new continental event.

Following which, Asian National Olympic Committees General Assembly formed the Asian Games Federation (AGF) during their meeting in Delhi in 1949 which would hold the Asian Games. The games were scheduled to be staged in 1950 but later postponed to 1951 for the delay in the preparation.

First Asian Games

India was the first country to host the Asian Games. The inaugural continental games was held in New Delhi in 1951. Four hundred ninety-one athletes of 11 countries participated in the 57 sporting events

List of Asian Games

Until 1978, the Asian games were organised under the tutelage of Asian Games Federation. During the AGF council meeting in New Delhi in 1981, the decision of forming the 'Olympic Council of Asia' (OCA) was passed.

Since the 1982 New Delhi Asian Games, OCA regulates the biggest multi-sporting event of Asia.

Asian Games History Records

For the first seven editions of the Asian Games, Japan absolutely dominated the medal tally. They bagged 499 gold medals until the 1978 games.

With China’s introduction in the games in 1974, Japan’s dominance took a stumble slightly for the next two editions. But in 1982, China took the first place for winning four gold medals more than Japan who had bagged 57 gold. The games saw a neck-to-neck competition between Japan and China as both countries finished with 153 medals.

In 1986, South Korea invaded the Japan-China war as the host nation finished second on the gold medal count despite having more numbers of medals. South Korea had 93 golds compared to 94 of China. Japan finished a distant third with 58 gold medals.

In the 1990 Beijing Games, China bagged a mammoth 183 gold medals which marked the rise of the Chinese dominance in Asia.

Since 1974 to 2014, China has won a whopping 1,1342 gold medals while Japan bagged 973 gold medals since 1954. South Korea won 696 gold medals since their first participation in 1954. However, in last five Asian games, South Korea outclassed Japan to take the second spot in the medal tally.