Asian Games
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The Asian Games, officially known as Asiad,^{[clarification needed]} is a multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until the 1978 Games. Since the 1982 Games they have been organized by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), after the breakup of the Asian Games Federation.^[1] The Games are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and are described as the second largest multi-sport event after the Olympic Games.^[2][3]

In its history, nine nations have hosted the Asian Games. 46 nations have participated in the Games, including Israel, which was excluded from the Games after their last participation in 1974.

The last Asian Games was held at Guangzhou, People's Republic of China last 12 November – 27 November 2010. The next Games will be held at Incheon, South Korea.

History[link]

Prior formation[link]

Before the Asian Games were held, there was a gathering known as the Far Eastern Games which was first mooted in 1912 between Empire of Japan, the Philippine Islands and China. The first Games were then held in Manila in 1913 and ten further gatherings were held until 1934. However, against the backdrop of the second Sino-Japanese War in 1934, in the face of Japan's insistence on including Manchu Empire as competitor nation in the Games, China announced its withdrawal from participation. The Games scheduled for 1938 were cancelled and the organization was discontinued thereafter.

Formation[link]

After World War II, a number of Asian countries became independent. Many of the newly independent Asian countries wanted to see a new type of competition where Asian dominance would not be shown by violence but would be strengthened by mutual understanding. During the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, a conversation between sportsmen from China and the Philippines raised the idea of restoring the Far Eastern Games. However, the Indian International Olympic Committee representative Guru Dutt Sondhi thought that the restoration of the Games would not be sufficient to show the spirit of unity and level of achievement in Asian sports, so proposed to sports leaders the idea of having discussions about holding a wholly new competition — the Asian Games. This gave rise to the agreement to form the Asian Athletic Federation. A preparatory committee was set up to draft the charter for this new body. On 13 February 1949, the Asian Athletic Federation was formally inaugurated in New Delhi, alongside the name Asian Games Federation, with New Delhi announced as the first host city of the Asian Games which were scheduled to be held in 1950.^[4][5]

Crisis, reorganization, expansion[link]

First Asian Games Opening Ceremony

Starting in 1962, the Games were hit by several crises. First, the host country Indonesia, refused to permit the participation of Israel and the Republic of China due to political and religious issues. As a result, the IOC removed its sponsorship of the Games and terminated Indonesia as one of the IOC members.^[6] The Asian Football Confederation (AFC),^[7] International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), also removed their recognition of the Games.^[8][9]

In 1970, South Korea dropped its plan to host the Games declined due to national security crisis, however the main reason was due to financial crisis, forcing the previous host Thailand to administer the Games again in Bangkok using funds transferred from South Korea.^[10] Prior to the Games, Japan was asked to host the Games, but declined due to Expo '70 in Osaka.^[11] This edition also marked the first time the Games have a television broadcasting throughout the world.^[12] In 1974, the Games formally recognized the participation of China, North Korea and Mongolia. Israel was allowed to participate despite the opposition from Arab World, while Taiwan was permitted to take part despite its status was abolished in general meeting on November 16, 1973 by Games Federation.^[13]

The last is 1978, Pakistan dropped its plan to host the Games in 1975 due to financial crisis and political issues.^[14] Thailand offered to help and the Games were once again held in Bangkok. However, once again, like in 1962, Taiwan and Israel were refused the participation by Games Federation, amid political issues and security fears.^[15] Several governing bodies protested against the ban, like IAAF, threatened to bar the participating players from 1980 Summer Olympics,^[16] this caused several teams to withdraw prior to the Games.^[17]

Following this series of crises, the National Olympic Committee in Asia decided to revise the constitution of the Asian Games Federation. A new association, named the Olympic Council of Asia, was created in November 1981 with the exclusion of Israel.^[18] India was already scheduled to host the 1982 Games and the OCA decided not to drop the old AGF timetable. The OCA formally supervised the Games starting with the 1986 Asian Games in South Korea.^[19] In the succeeding Games, Taiwan (Republic of China) was re-admitted, but was forced by the People's Republic of China to compete under the name Chinese Taipei.^[20]

In 1994, the Games were first time included the nations of former Republics of the Soviet Union of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. Also to note it is the first time that the Games were held outside the capital city of host country.^[21] However, Iraq was suspended from the Games due to Gulf War in 1990, while North Korea boycotted the Games due to relation problems. It is also marred by the death of Nepalese delegation Nareshkumar Adhikari during the Game's opening ceremony.^[22] The 1998 Games marked the fourth time held in Bangkok, Thailand in history. Differ to December 6 as opening ceremony date to previous three occasions on December 9, the Games were closing on same day all time, December 20, while all opened by Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Future changes[link]

The number of competition events is scheduled to shrink down to just 35 sports at the 2014 Games to be held in Incheon, South Korea. 2014 will also see the last Games hosted in even-numbered year, as the Olympic Council of Asia pushed the subsequent Games to just one year ahead of the Olympic Games. This means the 18th Asian Games which were originally planned for 2018 will be pushed to 2019.

Participation[link]

2006 Asian Games

All 45 members affiliated to the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) are eligible to take part in the Games. In history, 46 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) have sent competitors to the Games. Israel has been excluded from the Games since 1976, the reason cited as being due to security reasons.^[23] Israel requested to participate in the 1982 Games, but the request was rejected by the organizers due to incident in 1972 Summer Olympics.^[24] Israel is now a member of the European Olympic Committees (EOC).

Due to its continuing ambiguous political status, Taiwan has participated in the Games under the flag of Chinese Taipei since 1990. Macau is allowed to compete as one of the NOCs in Asian Games, despite not being recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for participation in the Olympic Games.

In 2007, the President of OCA, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, rejected the proposal to allow Australia to participate in the Games. He stated that while Australia would add good value to the Asian Games, it would be unfair to the other NOCs in Oceania.^[25]

Only seven countries, namely India, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Thailand have competed in all editions of the games.

Sports[link]

44 sports were presented in Asian Games history, including 2010 Games in Guangzhou.

Medal count[link]

Of the 46 National Olympic Committees participating throughout the history of the Games, 43 nations have won at least a single medal in the competition, leaving three nations: Bhutan, Maldives and Timor-Leste yet to win a single medal. 34 nations have won at least a single gold medal, while Japan and China became the only two nations in history to emerge as overall champions.

Samsung MVP award[link]

Samsung introduced the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in Asian Games since 1998 Games in Bangkok, Thailand. Below is the list of winners:

Year	Athlete	Sport (Discipline)	References
1998	Koji Ito	Athletics	[26]
2002	Kosuke Kitajima	Aquatics	[26]
2006	Park Tae-Hwan	Aquatics	[27]
2010	Lin Dan	Badminton	[28]

List of Asian Games[link]

Host countries of the games through 2014. Red spot denotes the city of the Games.

Year	Games	Host	Dates	Nations	Athletes	Sports	Events	Ref
1951	I	New Delhi, India	March 4–11	11	489	6	57	[29]
1954	II	Manila, Philippines	May 1–9	19	970	8	76	[30]
1958	III	Tokyo, Japan	May 28 – June 1	16	1,820	13	97	[31]
1962	IV	Jakarta, Indonesia	August 24 – September 4	12	1,460	13	88	[32]
1966	V	Bangkok, Thailand	December 9–20	16	1,945	14	143	[33]
1970	VI	Bangkok, Thailand	August 24 – September 4	16	2,400	13	135	[34]
1974	VII	Tehran, Iran	September 1–16	19	3,010	16	202	[35]
1978	VIII	Bangkok, Thailand	December 9–20	19	3,842	19	201	[36]
1982	IX	New Delhi, India	November 19 – December 4	23	3,411	21	147	[37]
1986	X	Seoul, South Korea	September 20 – October 5	27	4,839	25	270	[38]
1990	XI	Beijing, China	September 22 – October 7	36	6,122	29	310	[39]
1994	XII	Hiroshima, Japan	October 2–16	42	6,828	34	337	[40]
1998	XIII	Bangkok, Thailand	December 6–20	41	6,554	36	376	[41]
2002	XIV	Busan, South Korea	September 29 – October 14	44	7,711	38	419	[42]
2006	XV	Doha, Qatar	December 1–15	45	9,520	39	424	[43]
2010	XVI	Guangzhou, China	November 12–27	45	9,704	42	476	[44]
2014	XVII	Incheon, South Korea	September 19 – October 4	Future event
2019	XVIII			Future event
2023	XIX			Future event

See also[link]

Asian Games portal

• List of IOC country codes

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Asian Games

• Olympic Council of Asia: Games

v t e Association of National Olympic Committees All-African Games Asian Games Pan American Games Africa ANOCA – Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa Americas PASO – Pan American Sports Organization Asia OCA – Olympic Council of Asia Europe EOC – European Olympic Committees Oceania ONOC – Oceania National Olympic Committees

Lin Dan
Personal information
Nickname(s)	Super Dan
Birth name	林丹
Born	(1983-10-14) October 14, 1983 (age 28) Longyan, Fujian, China
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	70 kg (150 lb; 11 st)
Country	China
Handedness	Left
Men's singles
Highest Ranking	1 (February, 2004)
Current Ranking	2 (May, 2012[1])
Medal record Competitor for  China Men's badminton Olympic Games Gold 2008 Beijing Men's singles World Championships Gold 2011 London Men's Singles Gold 2009 Hyderabad Men's singles Gold 2007 Kuala Lumpur Men's singles Gold 2006 Madrid Men's singles Silver 2005 Anaheim Men's singles World Cup Gold 2006 Yiyang Men's singles Gold 2005 Yiyang Men's singles Thomas Cup Gold 2012 Wuhan Team Gold 2010 Kuala Lumpur Team Gold 2008 Jakarta Team Gold 2006 Tokyo Team Gold 2004 Jakarta Team Bronze 2002 Guangzhou Team Sudirman Cup Gold 2011 Qingdao Team Gold 2009 Guangzhou Team Gold 2007 Glasgow Team Gold 2005 Beijing Team Asian Games Gold 2010 Guangzhou Men's singles Gold 2010 Guangzhou Team Gold 2006 Doha Team Silver 2006 Doha Men's singles Bronze 2002 Busan Team Asian Championships Gold 2011 Chengdu Men's singles Gold 2010 New Delhi Men's singles Silver 2001 Manila Men's singles Bronze 2008 Johor Bahru Men's singles
BWF Profile

Lin Dan (Chinese: 林丹; pinyin: Lín Dān; born October 14, 1983 in Longyan, Fujian^[2]) is a professional badminton player from China. He is a four-time world champion, five time All England champion and the reigning Olympic champion. Widely considered to be the greatest badminton player of all time,^[3][4] by the age of 28 Lin had completed the "Super Grand Slam", having won all nine major titles in world badminton: Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, Thomas Cup, Sudirman Cup, Super Series Masters Finals, All England Open, Asian Games, and Asia Championships, becoming the first and only player to achieve this feat.^[5][6]

He has been nicknamed "Super Dan" by his fans.^[7]

Personal life[link]

In his early years, Lin was encouraged to learn to play piano by his parents, but chose to play badminton at the age of five. He joined the sports troop of the People's Liberation Army at the age of 13 and has been part of China's national badminton team since 2001 when he was 18.^[8][9][10]

On April 10, 2008, he created controversy when he struck coach Ji Xinpeng in front of his teammates and reporters during the warm-up tournament ahead of the Thomas Cup. The incident was reportedly triggered by Lin being unhappy with Ji's starting lineup for the tournament.^[11]

Lin has been in a romantic relationship with Xie Xingfang, herself a former world champion badminton player, since 2003.^[12] They were quietly married on December 13, 2010 in Haizhu, Guangzhou. Xie initially denied but later admitted the news when reporters got the evidence. Lin reacted angrily towards the news and insisted that it was a personal matter between him and Xie.^[13]

Career[link]

Junior events[link]

Lin emerged as a winner in the 2000 Asian Junior Championships in both the team and boys' singles events. He was also a member of the winning Chinese team and a boys' singles semi-finalist in the 2000 World Junior Championships.^[14]

2001–2003[link]

2001 marked the start of Lin's professional career. In his first final, at the Asian Badminton Championships, he was thrashed by compatriot Xia Xuanze.^[15]

In 2002 Lin took his first title at the Korea Open.^[16] He was a member of China's 2002 Thomas Cup squad which defeated Sweden (5–0),^[17] Denmark (3–2),^[18] and Korea (4–1) to reach the semifinals.^[19] However, Lin didn't play in the semifinal tie against Malaysia, which saw China's team tumble to a 1–3 defeat.^[20] Lin participated in another four tournaments without coming close to victory. He was knocked out in the first round of the Singapore,^[21] and Indonesia Opens,^[22] second round of the Denmark Open,^[23] and third round of the China Open.^[24] In October Lin was defeated in the semifinals of the Asian Games team competition which directly blew China's hope of a gold medal.^[25]

Lin started the 2003 season with a third round defeat in the All England Open.^[26] He reached a final later in the year at the Japan Open but was beaten by his compatriot Xia Xuanze once again.^[27] Lin then made his inaugural debut in the World Championships in Birmingham, England. He breezed past Per-Henrik Croona and Przemysław Wacha in the first two rounds, but was beaten by Xia again in his third round match.^[28] After the world meet, he was eliminated in the semifinals of the Singapore Open,^[29] third round of the Indonesia Open,^[30] and second round of the Malaysia Open.^[31] However, Lin ended the season strongly by capturing the Denmark,^[32] Hong Kong,^[33] and China Opens,^[34] and finishing runner-up at the German Open.

2004[link]

Lin had a good start to 2004, earning the BWF's number one world ranking for the first time in February. He helped China win the qualifying round of Thomas Cup and then captured the Swiss Open.^[35][36] He won his first ever All England Open title by beating Peter Gade in the final.^[37] He reached the semifinal of the Japan Open before going off to Jakarta, Indonesia in May for the Thomas Cup campaign.^[38]

In Thomas Cup, Lin helped China to an excellent start in which they thrashed United States and defending champion Indonesia 5–0 respectively to enter the quarterfinals.^[39] Lin then cruised past Shoji Sato and Lee Hyun-il in quarterfinal and semifinal ties against Japan and Korea respectively, each ending in 3–0 wins for China.^[40][41] In the final, he beat Peter Gade in straight games to give China the lead before the Chinese team eventually won three matches to one. China thus took the crown, ending a 14 years drought in the tournament.^[42]

Lin suffered setbacks later in the 2004 season when he was ousted in the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Open,^[43] and was reported to have a leg injury in mid-July, prior to the Olympic Games.^[44] Lin "crashed" in his first Olympic Games when, as the first seed, he was ousted early by Singapore's Ronald Susilo, who claimed Lin was "too eager to win".^[45][46] However, Lin bounced back with three titles at the Denmark,^[47] German,^[48] and China Opens,^[49] and ended the season as a semi-finalist at the Indonesia Open.^[50]

2005[link]

Lin retained his number one world ranking during 2005, winning his second German and Hong Kong Open titles, as well as the Japan Open, China Masters, and World Cup tournaments.^{[51][52][53][54][55]} He also helped China recapture the Sudirman Cup when it shut-out both defending champion South Korea in the semifinals and Indonesia in the final.^[56][57]

Lin failed to retain his All England title, losing a three set final to teammate Chen Hong,^[58] and he was beaten in the final of the Malaysia Open by another rising star, Lee Chong Wei.^[59] In his bid to capture his first world title at Anaheim California, he beat Kennevic Asuncion, Shoji Sato, Lee Hyun-il, and Peter Gade in succession to reach the final.^[60][61][62] There he was decisively beaten by Taufik Hidayat.^[63] Lin was also eliminated in the semifinals of the Singapore Open and the quarterfinals of the China Open.^[64]

2006[link]

Lin started the season by reaching the semifinals of the German Open,^[65] and had a same result in China Masters and China Open.^[66][67] He failed to win the Malaysia Open in June, which saw his opponent Lee Chong Wei had a superb display to save the title after a 13–20 down in rubber game,^[68] and also lost to Taufik Hidayat in Asian Games final.^[69]

However, he won six individual titles in the season. He recapturing All England Open,^[70] won Chinese Taipei Open,^[71] Macau Open,^[72] Hong Kong Open,^[73] Japan Open,^[74] and his first world title after beating his compatriot Bao Chunlai in the final.^[75]

In May, Lin and his teammates had extended China's Thomas Cup reign, shut out Denmark 3–0 for second consecutive title.^[76]

2007[link]

Lin Dan entered 2007 with a loss to South Korea's Park Sung-hwan in the round of 16 at the Malaysia Open. A week later he captured the Korea Open by defeating Chinese teammate Chen Jin in the final. He went on to win the German Open and then the All England championships again, crushing compatriot Chen Yu 21–13, 21–12. In June, Lin Dan was part of Team China in the Sudirman Cup, held in Glasgow, Scotland. The Chinese team retained the cup after beating Indonesia 3–0 in the final. Later in the season Lin Dan defeated Wong Choong Hann of Malaysia and became the China Masters champion for 2007. In August, Lin Dan extended his reign as the world champion when he beat Indonesia's Sony Dwi Kuncoro 21–11, 22–20 in the final of the tournament held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Lin Dan thus became the first man since Yang Yang to win back to back world championships.

2008[link]

Lin started the season with a defeat in the final of the Korea Open to Lee Hyun-il.^[77] It was a match filled with controversy as Lin had a scuffle with South Korea's coach Li Mao after a line call dispute. Lin refused to apologise and received no punishment from Badminton World Federation (BWF) after its probe of the altercation.^[78][79] In March he suffered another defeat to his compatriot Chen Jin in the final of the All England Open,^[80] which was followed by press accusations that Lin "gave" the match to Chen in order to increase Chen's ranking points for Olympic qualification.^[81] In the following week, Lin won his first Swiss Open.^[82] At the Asia Championships, Lin was again accused of helping his compatriot when his loss to Chen Jin in the semifinals ensured Chen's qualification for the Olympic Games.^[83]

In Thomas Cup, Lin won every match he played except his semifinal clash with Lee Chong Wei, and helped China to a third successive title in the tournament. After easy victories over Nigeria and Canada in the group stage, China defeated Thailand in the quarterfinals.^[84] Despite Lin's loss to Lee Chong Wei in the semifinals, China still managed to qualify for the final over Malaysia 3–2 ^[85] and retained the title after beating South Korea 3–1.^[86]

Lin won the Thailand Open, his last tournament before the 2008 Olympic Games.^[87]

In Olympic Games, he beat Hong Kong's Ng Wei in the first round,^[88] Park Sung-hwan in the second round,^[89] and Peter Gade in the quarterfinals.^[90] He then beat his teammate Chen Jin in straight sets to set up a "dream" final against Lee Chong Wei.^[91] However, the final was a one-sided match as Lin demolished Lee 21–12, 21–8, and became the first men's singles player to win the Olympic gold as a first seed.^[92]

Not back in action until the China Open in November, Lin again beat Lee in the final,^[93] before losing to Chen Jin once again in the Hong Kong Open.^[94] Lin was eligible to participate in the Masters Finals, but due to the withdrawal of China, he didn't take part in the tournament.^[95]

2009[link]

In March, Lin won his fourth All England title by defeating Lee Chong Wei, in only his first appearance since November 2008,^[96] but lost to the same opponent in the final of Swiss Open a week later.^[97]

He then participated in the Sudirman Cup in which he helped China to a 5–0 victory against England^[98] and another clean swept against Japan^[99] and Indonesia.^[100] In the semifinals, it was another showdown between Lin and Lee Chong Wei in a tie against Malaysia, and Lin went on to win in straight games to set up a clash against Korea in the final.^[101] In the final, Lin had no trouble beating Park Sung-hwan, helping China to secure the Cup for the third time in a row without conceding a match to any opponent in the tournament.^[102]

In June, Lin failed to win the Indonesia Open after being knocked out in the quarter-finals.^[103] It was the second tournament he failed to win, aside from an upset by South Korean's Choi Ho-jin in December during the East Asian Games final.^[104]

Lin then went on to sweep all titles in tournaments he participated in between August and November. He became the first player to win the World Championships three times in Hyderabad, India, beating Chen Jin in the final.^[105] Later Dan would go on to win his fourth China Masters title^[106] and first French Open title.^[107] He closed the season with the China Open title^[108] before heading to Hong Kong for the East Asian Games.

2010[link]

Lin started the season with failure to defend the All England Open title by losing in the quarterfinals,^[109] and had another quarterfinals exit in the Swiss Open.^[110] He only won his first seasonal title in the Badminton Asia Championships, which also marked his first title in the championships.^[111]

Lin had his fifth appearance in Thomas Cup. After an easy win against Peru,^[112] he won the double encounter against Korea's Park Sung-hwan in the second group tie and the quarterfinals respectively.^[113] In the semifinals, he defeated Lee Chong Wei in straight games to help China reach the final,^[114] before outclassing Indonesia for a fourth consecutive title.^[115]

After the Thomas Cup triumph, Lin played in the World Championships in Paris, France. He won his opening match^[116] and then beat Henri Hurskainen and Bao Chunlai in the second and third rounds respectively^[117][118] before being upset by Park Sung-hwan in the quarterfinals. The day also saw his arch rival Lee Chong Wei exit from the tournament.^[119] Lin then bounced back to win the China Masters,^[120] but continued his lowlight in the season after being beaten in the final of the Japan Open,^[121] and conceding walkovers in the quarterfinals of the China Open,^[122] and Hong Kong Open respectively.^[123]

However, Lin managed to win his first ever Asian Games gold medal in November by beating Lee Chong Wei in final, thus becoming the first player to win all of the present major titles available to Asians in badminton, both individual and national team.^[124]

2011[link]

Lin Dan in 2011 German Open.

Lin began the year with a withdrawal in the Malaysia Open's quarterfinals, which marked his third withdrawal in a row since late 2010. This action caused criticism mostly by Taufik Hidayat, who wanted the Badminton World Federation (BWF) to investigate.^[125] His mother denied that he retired on purpose, and cited he had a waist injury.^[126] However, he sprang back to win the first ever million dollar badminton tournament, Korea Open, a week later by defeating Lee Chong Wei in a rubber game final.^[127] He then won the German Open, beating his compatriot Chen Jin in the final.^[128]

However, Lin's hope to become the first player to win five All England titles in the open era was dashed^[129] when he was defeated by Lee Chong Wei in the final.^[130] He then won his second Asian Championships in April on a day which saw China sweep all five titles.^[131] Lin helped China to a fourth consecutive Sudirman Cup title in May, defeating Denmark 3–0 in the final.^[132] In June, Lin withdrew from the Singapore Open final due to gastric flu, this drew the jeers from fans in the stadium.^[133] Just few days later, he was stunned by Sho Sasaki in the second round of Indonesia Open.^[134]