Asian Games- A Theatre Of Achievement!

Thanks to the diversity and the overwhelming number of disciplines, the Asian Games offers a plethora of incredible moments. It is a subjective choice, and quite a random one at that, as we take glimpses of stellar performances over a period of seven decades.

- Kamesh Srinivasan

The spark of Asian sports was ignited at the National Stadium in New Delhi in 1951, with only 11 countries and 12 sports, featuring 489 athletes and spread over eight days. Since then, the Asian games has grown in size and magnitude.

It is second only to the Olympics as a multi­sport event, even though only 45 na­tions compete, and has a large viewership glued to the action.

China has been the dominant force ever since it first hosted the Games in 1990 in Beijing, after Japan had shown its class, top­ping the table with 60 medals, including 24 gold, in the inaugural edition. Japan had been allowed then to field a team after hav­ing been kept out of the London Olympics in 1948. Korea was occupied with its civil war, and host India managed to win second place with 51 medals, including 15 gold. That offered euphoric moments for Indian sports after Independence when the country was taking baby steps in the field of sports.

India provided further fillip to the Games when it first introduced a mascot, the friendly baby elephant Appu, at the 1982 event in Delhi and the sports show coincided with colour televisions being introduced in the country.

Thanks to the diversity and the over­ whelming number of disciplines, the Asian Games offers a plethora of incredible mo­ments. It is hard to come up with a compre­hensive list, and even more difficult to have an order of merit. It is a subjective choice, and quite a random one at that, as we take glimpses of stellar performances over a period of seven decades.