Asian Games Hockey

Back in 1947, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru proposed an Asian sports meet at a conference on relations between Asian countries. In August 1948, during the 14th Olympic Games held in London, Guru Dutt Sondhi of India followed up with the leaders of the other Asian delegations the idea of holding an Asian Games. In February 1949, the Asian Amateur Athletic Federation was formally formed.

It was decided to hold the first Asian Games in 1951 in New Delhi, the capital of India. Held from March 4 - March 12, 1951, the first Asiad had 489 athletes from 11 National Olympic Committees participating. Over the years, the Asian Games have grown in number of participating countries, athletes and events, as can be seen below:

Year	Venue	Events	Countries	Athletes
1951	New Delhi	6	11	489
1954	Manila	8	18	1280
1958	Tokyo	13	20	1820
1962	Jakarta	13	16	1460
1966	Bangkok	14	18	2486
1970	Bangkok	13	18	2400
1974	Teheran	16	25	3010
1978	Bangkok	19	25	3842
1982	New Delhi	21	33	4595
1986	Seoul	25	27	4797
1990	Beijing	27	37	6122
1994	Hiroshima	34	42	8346
1998	Bangkok	36	43	8500
2002	Busan	38	44	6700

Asian Games Hockey

Men's hockey was first introduced in the 1958 Tokyo Asian Games, while women's hockey debuted in the 1982 New Delhi Asian Games. The gold medallist of the Asian Games hockey competition gets a direct entry into the Olympic Games. Therein lies the importance of this competition.

Pakistan is the king of the Asian Games men's hockey scene. Of the 12 Asian Games hockey competitions held so far, Pakistan has won 7 gold medals. All those 7 golds came by beating India in the final! Pakistan is the only country to win back-to-back gold medals - it won 4 gold medals in a row, in 1970 (Bangkok), 1974 (Teheran), 1978 (Bangkok) and 1982 (New Delhi).

In contrast, Olympic giants India have only 2 gold medals from 12 attempts. South Korea has a better record than India, winning 3 gold medals (1986, 1994, 2002) in 9 attempts.

In women's hockey, India had the distinction of winning the inaugural Asian Games gold medal in the 1982 New Delhi Asiad. The two other medals that India got was a bronze in the 1986 Seoul Asiad and a silver in the 1998 Bangkok Asiad.

South Korea has been the dominant nation in Asian Games women's hockey, winning won 4 consecutive gold medals - 1986 (Seoul), 1990 (Beijing), 1994 (Hiroshima) and 1998 (Bangkok), thus matching Pakistan's record of winning 4 consecutive gold medals (1970 - 1982) in the men's competition. The winning streak of the South Korean women was broken by China, who won the women's hockey gold medal in the 2002 Busan Asiad. China, coached by a South Korean coach, also won the 2002 Women's Champions Trophy.

The following pages will chronicle the saga of India in the Asian Games hockey competition, from 1958 to 2002. We will be prefacing the story of each Asiad with the theme - India, First in Asia. This will be a compendium of some chronological firsts of India with respect to the Asian continent.