Like the Olympic and Commonwealth Games, the Asian Games is the sports festival of the Asian countries held in every four years.
The origin of Asian Games goes back to 1947 when the Asian Relations Conference held in New Delhi decided to organize an international games meet for Asian countries on the lines of Olympic Games – i.e. once in four years. Since then the games have grown to become Asiad – the biggest sports festival in Asia. The games have been held in the spirit of brotherhood among the Asian countries. In fact these have been something more than games because they include mutual understanding for exchange of techniques and ideas in sports, culture as well as to generate goodwill and affection among the Asian peoples. The Asian games include a number of sport events similar almost to Olympic Games; except some events which are not included in Olympic Games.
The games include Athletics, Archery, Basketball, Boxing, Cycling, Diving, Badminton, Bowling, Football, Fencing, Golf, Handball, Hockey, Judo, and Kabaddi and so on.
The previous Asian Games have been held in the following venues. 1951 – New Delhi, 1954 – Manila, 1958 – Tokyo, 1962 – Jakarta, 1966 – Bangkok, 1970 – Bangkok, 1974 – Tehran, 1978 – Bangkok, 1982 – New Delhi, 1986 – Seoul, 1990 – Beijing, 1994 – Hiroshima. It is significant that like a proverbial phoenix, Japan arose from the ashes to tell the world the greatness of human perseverance. The Hiroshima city opened its heart for the 12th Asian Games held in 1994.
The 13th Asian Games will be again held in Bangkok, Thailand in the year 1998.