1951 Asian Games

The 1951 Asian Games, officially known as the First Asian Games (), were a multi-sport event celebrated in New Delhi, India from 4 to 11 March 1951. The Games received names like First Asiad, 1951 Asiad, and New Delhi 1951 (). A total of 489 athletes representing 11 Asian National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated in 57 events from eight sports and discipline. The Games was the successor of the Far Eastern Games and the revival of the Western Asiatic Games. The 1951 Asiad were originally scheduled to be held in 1950, but postponed until 1951 due to delays in preparations. On 13 February 1949, the Asian Games Federation was formally established in Delhi, with Delhi unanimously announced as the first host city of the Asian Games.

The games were managed by a strong Organizing Committee (see Organization below).

Countries invited included almost all the independent Asian countries of the time except Soviet Union (as they were part of the European Olympic Committees) and Vietnam, due to the political structure of those nations.

National Stadium was the venue for all events. The official logo of the First Asiad depicted a bright sun in red with 16 rays and a white circle in the middle of the disc of the sun and eleven rings, representing each participating nation, on a white background, symbolising peace.

Japanese athletes won the 24 gold, 21 silver, and 15 bronze medals, respectively; while the host nation India had 15 golds and 51 overall medals with most bronzes (20) and finished at second spot in a medal table. The next Asian Games organised by India were the 1982 Asian Games, some 31 years later.

History

thumb|130px|right|Postage stamp to commemorative 1st Asian Games issued on by India Post

The 1951 Asian Games are considered to be a successor of a small-scale multi-sport event known as the Far Eastern Games, held in between a period of 1913 to 1938 in the different cities of Japan, Philippines, and mainland China. The First Far Eastern Games took place in Manila, Philippines in 1913, after the efforts made by the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation (PAAF). The Games were successfully organized for the next nine terms, but in September 1937, Japan invaded China after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident and started the Second Sino-Japanese War (which later became part of the World War II), thus the originally planned Games of 1938 in Osaka was cancelled and the Far Eastern Games were discontinued thereafter.

During the starting years of the 1930s, efforts were made to organize a multi-sport event to include the countries of West Asia too, this gave a birth to "Orient Championship Games", which later renamed as Western Asiatic Games before its first inception. The scope of the Games comprised all the countries east of Suez and west of Singapore. The First Western Asiatic Games was celebrated in Delhi in 1934 at the Irwin Amphitheater, in which four countries—Afghanistan, British India, Palestine Mandate and Ceylon—participated. The decision was made to hold these Games once in four years at midpoint between the two successive Summer Olympics. The 1938 Western Asiatic Games were scheduled to be held in Tel Aviv, Palestine Mandate. However, the Games was cancelled due to the outbreak of World War II, and abandoned until 1951 Games, which also considered as the revival of Western Asiatic Games.

Host city selection

On 12 and 13 February 1949, a meeting was organized at the Patiala House, in Delhi, in between the representatives of nine Asian National Olympic Committees. The framework of the meeting was set up in another meeting held on 8 August 1948 during the Second London Olympics, which was called by the Indian Olympic Committee's representative Guru Dutt Sondhi. The meeting was chaired by Yadavindra Singh, president of the Indian Olympic Association. On the last day, Asian Games Federation (AGF) was formalized and a draft constitution was accepted. HRH Yadavindra Singh and Guru Dutt Sondhi were respectively elected as the first president and the secretary of the federation. The five charter members forming the federation were Afghanistan, Burma, India, Pakistan, and the Philippines. The decision was made to organize the Asian Games Championships in four-year intervals since the inception of the Games in Delhi in February, 1950. HRH Yadavindra Singh, who also became the president of the organization committee of Games sent the formal invitation to several other Asian countries to participate in the 1950 Asian Games.

Organization

The responsibility of organizing the First Asian Games was assigned to a special committee that included Anthony de Mello; the Maharaja of Patiala/ president of the Indian Olympic Association Yadavindra Singh; Indian Olympic Association Secretary Guru Dutt Sondhi; and officials playing a key role such as S. Bhoot, Nariman Saugar who did much work with the stadium, and others.

<big>The Organizing Committee</big> was:

President: Yadavindra Singh, Maharaja of Patiala;

Director: Anthony de Mello; Hon. Treasurer: S.P. Chopra;

Members: General K. M. Cariappa, Sir Girja Shankar Bajpai / ICS, Nawab of Pataudi, Maharajakumar of Visianagaram, S. V. Mavlankar, Pt. Hirday Nath Kunzru, K. R. K. Menon / ICS, Shankar Prasad / ICS, P. C. Choudhuri / ICS, Krishna Prasada / ICS, Dr. Tara Chand, Prof A. N. Jha, Sir Usha Nath Sen, Sir Biren Mukerjee, Sir Shankar Lal, Naval H. Tata, Sir Sobha Singh, Maj.Gen. V. R. Khanolkar, G.D.Sondhi, S.M. Moin-ul Haq, Raja Bhalindra Singh, Maharajadhiraj Sir Uday Chand Mahtab, C.C. Abraham, S.H. Bhoot, P. Gupta.

<big>The Executive Committee</big> was:

Chairman: G. D. Sondhi; Members: P. C. Choudhuri, Krishna Prasada, Moin-ul Haq, S.S. Mathur, Rameshwar Dayal.

<big>The Chairmen of Committees</big> were:

Finance: K.R.K. Menon; Technical: G.D. Sondhi; Housing and Transport: Maj. Gen. V.R.Khanolkar; Medical: Maj. M. S. Chadha; Arts: B. Ukil; Reception: Shankar Lal; Publicity: Deva Das Gandhi

<big>The principal Executive members</big> were:

Director of Organisation Anthony de Mello; Secretary to the Director S.S. Dhawan; Public Relations Officer M. L. Kapur; Publicity Officer D. I. Sequeira; Assistant Secretary Nariman S. Saugar.

An athletes' camp was settled in Delhi, modelled after the Richmond Park Camp of London, which accommodated athletes of the 1948 Summer Olympics.

Venues

The venue for the 1951 Asian Games was the Irwin Amphitheater, a multi-purpose sport complex, the same venue which had hosted the 1934 Western Asiatic Games. Before the opening ceremony of the Games, the stadium was re-christened as the "National Stadium" and renovated for the facilities of different events of the Games. Every event with the exception of swimming and water polo was hosted under the premises of the main stadium only, the events of swimming and water polo were organised at the adjacent swimming pool within the premises of the complex.

Events

The Games featured six sports: Athletics, aquatics—broken into Diving, swimming, and water polo disciplines—basketball, cycling—road cycling and track cycling—football, and weightlifting. The sports were broken down into 57 events. Many member countries of Asian Games Federation requested for the inclusion of boxing as a medal sport, but due to various reasons, boxing did not make the final list for the Games. Except athletics, women did not participate in any other event.

In the Games, "Mr. Asia of 1951" was also contested as the non-medal event. The contingents were judged on the basis of their physical development, looks, and personality. Parimal Roy of India won the event ahead of Mahmoud Namjoo of Iran, who won gold medal in the bantamweight category of weightlifting.

Aquatics

Diving

In diving, two medal events—3 m springboard and 10 m platform—were included. India and Iran were the only nations that achieved medals. Indian diver, K. P. Thakkar won both the golds and overall India won 4 medals. Iran bagged only one silver and one bronze.

Swimming

thumb|right|alt=Sachin Nag, the first ever gold medalist for India at the inaugural 1951 Asian Games, New Delhi|[[Sachin Nag, the first ever Asian Games gold medalist for India, standing on podium for medal ceremony at 1951 Asian Games.]]

In swimming, five nations sent their swimmers to participate in 8 events, 5 of freestyle (100 m, 400 m, 800 m, 1500 m, and 4 × 100 m relay) and one of each backstroke (100 m), breaststroke (200 m) and medley (3 × 100 m). After these Games, 800 m freestyle and 3 × 100 m medley relay were removed from the swimming calendar of Asian Games. Singapore bagged half of gold medals and 2 silvers, while Philippines earned half of total medals including 3 golds, India finished with 6 total medals including one gold of Sachin Nag in 100 m freestyle, which was the first gold of India in Asian Games; two nations left without any medal.

Water polo

In water polo, only two teams—India and Singapore—participated. The only match of the tournament decided the winner, in which the Indian team defeated Singapore with a goal difference of 6 to 4.

Athletics

Athletics was the only sport in which all the eleven participating nations sent their athletes. The Games featured 24 medal events for men and 9 for women. Japanese women won all the 9 golds of their events and just lost four silvers to India and Singapore, two for each. In men's events, again Japan achieved highest number of golds with count of 11, but here Indian athletes finished just one medal behind to Japan with 10 golds. Toyoko Yoshino, a Japanese woman athlete, won all the golds in three throwing sports— shot put, discus throw, and javelin throw. Lavy Pinto of India was the only man who achieved multiple gold medals, he finished at the top podium in men's 100 m and 200 m sprint running events.

Cycling

In cycling, four nations—Burma, India, Iran, and Japan—sent their cyclists. Two disciplines—road race and track race—were contested. Track cycling included—1000 m sprint, 1000 m time trial, and 4000 team-pursuit; for road cycling, 180 km individual road race was contested. The event was widely perceived as being dominated by Japan, who claimed 8 medals in total, including all the four golds out of 11 total overall medals and 4 golds. Indian cyclists won all the rest 3 medals as Burma and Iran failed to achieve a single one.

Football

In football, six Asian teams—Afghanistan, Burma, India, Indonesia, Iran, and Japan—participated. The gold medal was won by the Indian team, who defeated Iran 1–0 in the final. Japan defeated Afghanistan, 2–0 to win the bronze medal. In semifinals, two matches were played in between Iran and Japan to decide one of the finalists, as first match played on 7 March remained goalless, even match went for overtime; on a next day a replay semifinal match was played in between both the teams in which Iran defeated Japan with a goal difference of 3 to 2.

Weightlifting

In weightlifting, seven countries participated in seven events—bantamweight (56 kg), featherweight (60 kg), lightweight (67.5 kg), middleweight (75 kg), light heavyweight (82.5 kg), middle heavyweight (90 kg), and heavyweight (+90 kg). Iranian weightlifters dominated in all events and claimed 10 medals in total including all the golds, Singapore won two silvers, while both India and Philippines won one silver and one bronze.

Calendar

In the following calendar for the 1951 Asian Games, each blue box represents an event competition, such as a qualification round, on that day. The yellow boxes represent days during which medal-awarding finals for a sport were held. The numeral indicates the number of event finals for each sport held that day. On the left, the calendar lists each sport with events held during the Games, and at the right, how many gold medals were won in that sport. There is a key at the top of the calendar to aid the reader.

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0.5em auto; font-size:90%;position:relative;"

|style="width:2.5em; background:#00cc33; text-align:center"|OC||Opening ceremony

|style="width:2.5em; background:#3399ff; text-align:center"|●||Event competitions

|style="width:2.5em; background:#ffcc00; text-align:center"|1||Event finals

|style="width:2.5em; background:#ee3333; text-align:center"|CC||Closing ceremony

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0.5em auto; font-size:90%; line-height:1.25em; text-align:center;"

!width=200|March 1951

!width=35|4th Sun

!width=35|5th Mon

!width=35|6th Tue

!width=35|7th Wed

!width=35|8th Thu

!width=35|9th Fri

!width=35|10th Sat

!width=35|11th Sun

!width=50|Gold medals

| Ceremonies || bgcolor=#00cc33 align=center|OC|| || || || || || ||bgcolor=#ee3333 align=center|CC||

| align="left"| 15px Athletics

|

|

|

|

| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 4

| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 3

| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 13

| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 13

| 33

| align="left"| 15px Basketball

|

| bgcolor="#3399ff"|●

| bgcolor="#3399ff"|●

| bgcolor="#3399ff"|●

| bgcolor="#3399ff"|●

| bgcolor="#3399ff"|●

| bgcolor=#ffcc00 |1

|

| 1

| align="left"| 15px Cycling – Road

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| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 1

| 1

| align="left"| 15px Cycling – Track

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| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 1

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| bgcolor="#3399ff"|●

| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 1

| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 1

|

| 3

| align="left"| 15px Diving

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| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 1

| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 1

| 2

| align="left"| 15px Football

|

| bgcolor="#3399ff"|●

|

| bgcolor="#3399ff"|●

| bgcolor="#3399ff"|●

| bgcolor="#3399ff"|●

| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 1

|

| 1

| align="left"| 15px Swimming

|

| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 2

| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 3

| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 3

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| 8

| align="left"| 15px Water polo

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| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 1

| 1

| align="left"| 15px Weightlifting

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| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 1

| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 2

| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 2

| bgcolor=#ffcc00 | 2

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| 7

!Total gold medals!! !! 3 !! 6 !! 5 !! 6 !! 4 !! 17 !! 16 !! 57

!March 1951

!4th Sun

!5th Mon

!6th Tue

!7th Wed

!8th Thu

!9th Fri

!10th Sat

!11th Sun

!Gold medals

Opening ceremony

left|thumb|250px|Indian athletes marching into the stadium.

On 4 March 1951, the First Asian Games were officially opened. The list of the guests included— India's first President Rajendra Prasad, first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru, cabinet members of Indian Government, diplomatic corps and representatives of participating Asian NOCs. The National Stadium was filled with an estimated 40,000 spectators. A 31-gun salute was fired from the ramparts of the Purana Quila, adjacent to the National Stadium, in the honour of guests and participants of first Asian Games. After a speech by the president of Asian Games Federation, HRH Yadavendra Singh, President Rajendra Prashad officially opened the Games.