Teheran - 1974
Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, commonly known as Dadasaheb
Phalke, made India's first fully indigenous silent feature film Raja
Harishchandra. The 3700 feet long film had titles in Hindi and English, and was
released on May 3, 1913, at the Coronation Cinema in Mumbai. The movie would be Asia's first motion picture.
Based on a story from the Mahabharata, Raja Harishchandra told the tale of an upright king, who in order to live up to his ideals of duty and truthfulness, sacrifices his kingdom, wife and child and undergoes the severest of trials and tribulations. His steadfastness in the end earns him the admiration of the Gods who restore him to his former glory.
In 1969, the Indian Government instituted the Dadasaheb Phalke award, the highest award in Indian films, as a tribute to the founder of the movie industry in India. Dadasaheb Phalke died in 1944.
Athletes: 3,010 athletes from 25 countries
Debut Sports: Fencing, Gymnastics and Women's Basketball
Top 3 Countries: Japan (75G, 49S, 51B), Iran (36G, 28S, 17B), China (33G, 45S, 28B)
- The Teheran Asian Games is the only Asiad to be held in the Middle
East.
- Politics once again reared its ugly head. Arabic nations, Pakistan, China and North
Korea refused to play with Israel in tennis, fencing, basketball and football. Taiwan was
expelled from the Asian Games Federation, paving the way for Communist China to take part
in the Asian Games for the first time. Coming 2 years after the 1972
Munich Olympics massacre, strict security measures were enforced due to
reported threats from the Palestinians and a Japanese militant sect.
- From the 1974 Asian Games onwards, Punjab no longer supplied the bulk of players for the
Indian hockey team. Indian Airlines, Railways and Services emerged as the new powerhouses
of hockey in India.
- India's results in hockey were: beat Japan 3-0, beat Iran 12-0, beat Sri Lanka 7-0 and
beat Malaysia 2-0.
- Pakistan's results were: beat Malaysia 4-0, beat Sri Lanka 14-0, beat Iran 13-0 and
beat Japan 3-0.
- In the final, India and Pakistan drew 1-1. The final was replayed, and in this match, Pakistan beat India 2-0 to win the Asian Games gold. The hockey finals were broadcast live on radio by Akashvani.
Final Standings:
1 - Pakistan, 2 - India, 3 - Malaysia, 4 - Japan, 5 - Sri Lanka, 6 - Iran
Indian Team:
Railways Chand Singh, Mehboob Khan, Surjeet Singh, Ajeet Singh, Vasudevan Bhaskaran, Varinder Singh, V. J. Philips, Leslie Fernandes Indian Airlines Aslam Sher Khan, B. P. Govinda, Ashok Kumar Services Harcharan Singh, M. P. Ganesh, K. N. Kusha Punjab Ajitpal Singh (captain), Baldev Singh, Harmeek Singh Mumbai John Correira Officials Balkrishan Singh (coach), Leslie Claudius (manager)