India is the country that founded the Asian Games, popularly known as Asiad, in the year of 1951. Prof Guru Dutt Sondhi, a dedicated follower of the Olympic movement was the principal organiser to make the Asiad a reality. In the early 30s, he visualised Asiad, the brainchild of western Asiatic Games and India had floated the idea of continental games.
After the Second World War was finished, the plan saw the daylight. Though the organizers originally scheduled the inaugural Asian Games to be held in 1950, they had to postpone the plan for a few months and the competition was held in 1951. Since then the Games have been held after every four years. India is the founder of the Asiad. The rich history of the Asiad games unfold the fact that twice in the 51-year-old history of the Games, India has finished among the top three. The first time was in 1951 in the inaugural Asian Games and then in 1962.
India dominated the field events of athletics till 1974. The famous performers like Flying Sikh Milkha Singh, Ajmer Singh,
Makhan Singh, and
Gurbachan Randhawa were all champion sprinters or hurdlers from India.
In this scenario,
PT Usha dominated the Asian Games Tracks for more than a decade. After her retirement, the women athletes have been consistently improving and they also managed to hold on to their position.
Anju Bobby George was the first women athlete to win a Commonwealth Games medal. In the 1998 Asian Games, Jyotirmoyee Sikdar from
Bengal, India became the first woman athlete in 12 years to win a gold for India as she won both the 800 metres and 1500 metres events. The Indian women Hockey Team could win the gold medal only in the year of 1982 Asian Games at home. However, the Indian men Hockey Team have more success than the women team. They won the gold in the Asian Games twice in the years of 1966 and 1998.
. In 1994, Jaspal Rana was the gold medal winner for shooting. In Tennis also, India won a couple of bronze medals. In the weightlifting department, India had a silver medal from Karnam Malleswari. In Bowing, India had a gold medallist in the name of NG Dingko Singh and a bronze medallist in Gurcharan Singh. India thus has become a name in the Asiad Games since the remote past.
