1970
GANEFO is dissolved
over hosting issues.
Indonesia is reinstated
in the Asiad1973
China is admitted into the
Asian Games Federation.
Taiwan’s membership is
then withdrawn1982
The Olympic Council of
Asia is established. Under
a new voting mechanism,
Israel is excluded1991
Iraq is banned from the
Asiad for invading Kuwait1993
The East Asian Games is
createdthe competition had given his nation hope,
reinforced national unity, and – somewhat
darkly – emphasised the importance of training
young men to be fit and powerful. After the
subsequent Japanese occupation of Manchuria
in 1931, and the establishment of a puppet
state, Japan insisted that the newly-formed
“Manchukuo” be included in the Games as
an independent nation state. The Chinese
withdrew from participation in protest, the
1938 edition was cancelled, and the FECG was
ultimately discontinued.
The Second World War put an abrupt stop
to sport meets of any kind across Asia. But the
FECG was the beginning of an enduring trend
for countries to use sport as an alternative
battlefield: to establish superiority over one
another, and create (or contest) the legitimacy
of political entities. Following the conclusion
of the war, Indian sports administrator Guru
Dutt Sondhi proposed the Asiad as a way
to unite the neutral, independent states
comprising the Non-Aligned Movement. But
with Taiwan and Communist China in direct
competition for Chinese representation,
Indonesia’s ties to the larger state culminated
in the former’s exclusion from the 1962 Games,
while pressure from the Gulf states over
the Arab-Israeli war resulted in Israel being
unceremoniously uninvited that same year.PHOTO © THE ASAHI SHIMBUN/GETTY IMAGES