Bangkok - 1998
When
the Indian Atomic Energy Commission was set up in August 1948, with Homi
Jahangir Bhabha (1909-1966) as its chairman, India became the first
country in Asia to have a nuclear programme. When the Apsara
nuclear reactor in Trombay went critical on August 4, 1956, it was
Asia's first nuclear reactor.Bhabha also founded the Tata Institute for Fundamental Research, which is recognized internationally as a center of excellence in nuclear physics, cosmic rays and high energy physics. Bhabha had varied interests - he played the violin, raised rare plants, was a great patron of the arts, painted, sketched and was a lover of trees.
Bhabha died in a plane crash on Mont Blanc on January 24, 1966. One year after his death, the Atomic Energy Establishment at Trombay was renamed Bhabha Atomic Research Centre - India's largest science and technology establishment in one campus.
Athletes: 6700 from 41 countries and in 36 sports (26 Olympic, 10 Non-Olympic)
Debut Sports: Squash, Rugby, Women's Sepak Takraw and Mountain Biking
Top 3 Countries: China (129G, 77S, 68B), South Korea (65G, 47S, 52B), Japan (52G, 61S, 68B)
- While it was the largest Asian Games ever, still 3 countries did not
participate - Afghanistan, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. Bangkok was hosting
its record 4th Asiad. The only other multiple host of the Asian Games is
New Delhi (1951, 1982)
- India regained the men's hockey gold in the Bangkok Asian Games after 32 long years. The
last gold was so long ago that none of the 16 players in the team was even born when India won
the Asian Games hockey title back in 1966.
India went undefeated in the men's hockey tournament, with the following match results:
Date Result December 9 beat Singapore 9-0 December 11 beat Bangladesh 7-0 December 13 beat China 2-1 December 14 beat South Korea 2-1 Dec 17 (semis) beat Japan 3-1 Dec 19 (final) beat South Korea 5 (1) - 3 (1) - In the final held at the Queen Sirikit 60th anniversary stadium, India
defeated holders South Korea 5-3 in a nerve-wracking tie-break duel. The teams were locked
1-1 after 70 minutes of regular time and 15 minutes of extra-time. The
hero of the tie-breaker was goalkeeper Ashish Ballal who stopped two strokes, while Ramandeep Singh,
Mohammed Riaz, Baljeet Singh Dhillon and Mukesh Kumar all scored for India.
- After India's victory, ecstatic scenes of music and dancing were seen
at the stadium. Never in
recent years did India get such spontaneous and passionate support from the Indian
community, as was the case on that glorious night in Bangkok.
- This was the second consecutive Asiad that Pakistan did not feature in
the Asian Games hockey final. Pakistan had to settle for its second
hockey bronze at the Bangkok Asiad.
- In women's hockey, India ended up second behind South Korea, with the following match results:
Date Result December 8 beat Thailand 13-0 December 10 beat China 2-1 December 12 beat Uzbekistan 2-1 December 13 lost to South Korea 0-5 December 15 beat Kazakhistan 6-1 December 16 drew with Japan 1-1 Dec 18 (final) lost to South Korea 1 - 2 - The Indian women thus capped off a fairly busy year which saw them
come 12th (last) in the Utrecht World Cup, 4th in the Commonwealth Games and 2nd in the Asian
Games.
- The gold in the 1982 Asiad, bronze in the 1986 Asiad and the silver in the 1998 Asiad are the only medals won by India in the Asian Games women's hockey competition.
Final Standings (Men):
1 - India, 2 - South Korea, 3 - Pakistan, 4 - Japan, 5 - Malaysia, 6 - China, 7 - Singapore, 8 - Hong Kong, 9 - Bangladesh, 10 - Thailand
Indian Team (Men):
Indian Airlines A. B. Subbaiah, Ashish Ballal, Dileep Tirkey, Lazarus Barla, Mohammed Riaz, Mukesh Kumar, Sameer Dad Mumbai Sandeep Somesh, Dhanraj Pillai, Sabu Varkey Punjab Ramandeep Singh, Baljit Singh Dhillon Tamil Nadu Thirumala Valavan, L. Prabhakaran Air India Anil Aldrin PSB Baljeet Singh Saini Officials Maharaj Kishan Kaushik (chief coach), Mir Ranjan Negi (assistant coach), Merwyn Fernandes (coaching advisor), M. S. Mullick (manager)