Asian Games: A Fact File

The 2014 Asian Games were held in Incheon, South Korea from September 19 — October 4, 2014. China topped the medals table for the ninth time followed by South Korea and Japan. China won 151 gold medals ahead of the 79 won by host South Korea. Most Valuable Player award was won by Japanese swimmer Kosuke Hagino, who won seven medals including four individual gold medals. India finished eighth with 11 gold, 10 silver and 36 bronze. 

Some of the Highlights of Indian performances in Asian Games 2014:

• » India's performance in Incheon went slightly down from 14 gold medals to 11 compared to Guangzhou 2010.
• » Four of the gold medals came in athletics (two) and kabaddi (two) while archery, boxing, hockey, shooting, squash, tennis and wrestling accounted for the rest.
• » In shooting Jitu Rai won the first gold for India by beating the strong contenders like Wang Zhiwei of China and reigning world champion Jongoh of South Korea to win the gold.
• » Yogeshwar Dutt ended India's 28-year-old gold medal drought in the wrestling to win the men's freestyle 65kg gold.
• » In tennis Sania and Saketh Myneni won the a mixed doubles gold.
• » After 16 years India won the Gold medal in Asian Games men's hockey tournament, and consequently earned a direct berth to the 2016 Summer Olympics hockey tournament.
• » India completed a twin gold on the kabaddi after the men and women team defeated Iran.
• » Indian men's squash team won a historic Asian Games gold medal beating Malaysia 2-0.
• » In the closing ceremony the OCA flag were handed over to the people's representatives of the next Games in 2018 to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia.
• » Spotted seal siblings ‘Three Spotted Seal Siblings’ was the official mascot of the Games in Songdo Island, Incheon. The three seals, known as "Barame ", "Chumuro" and "Vichuon ", means wind, dance and light in Korean language, is in accordance with the theme of main venue.

Top Ten Countries Medal Tally-Asian Games 2014

Rank	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	151	108	83	342
2	Korea	79	71	84	234
3	Japan	47	76	77	200
4	Kazakhstan	28	23	33	84
5	Iran	21	18	18	57
6	Thailand	12	7	28	47
7	DPR Korea	11	11	14	36
8	India	11	10	36	57
9	Chinese Taipei	10	18	23	51
10	Qatar	10	0	4	14

17th ASIAN GAMES 2014Duration: September 19, 2014 - October 4, 2014 (16 days)
Venues: In and around Incheon Metropolitan City, South Korea
Participants: About 13,000 athletes and officials and about 7,000 media from the 45 OCA member states
Host: The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA)
Organizer: The 2014 Incheon Asian Games Organizing Committee (IAGOC)
No. of Sports: 36

ASIAN GAMES 2014 Sports:Aquatics, Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Boxing, Canoe and Kayak, Cycling, Equestrian, Fencing, Football, Golf, Gymnastics, Handball, Hockey, Judo, Modern Pentathlon, Rowing, Rugby, Sailing, Shooting, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Triathlon, Volleyball, Weightlifting, Wrestling, Baseball, Bowling, Cricket, Kabaddi, Karate, Sepaktakraw, Squash, Wushu

ASIAN GAMES 2014: Indian Medal WinnersList of Gold Medalists for India: (11)

• » Jitu Rai: Men's 50 metre pistol shooting
• » Sandeep Kumar, Rajat Chauhan, Abhishek Verma: Men's compound team archery
• » Saurav Ghosal, Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu, Mahesh Mangaonkar, Kumar Kush: Men's team squash
• » Yogeshwar Dutt: Men's freestyle 65 kg wrestling
• » Seema Punia: Women's discuses throw athletics
• » Sania Mirza, Saketh Myneni: Mixed doubles tennis
• » M.C. Mary Kom: Women's 48-51 kg boxing
• » Indian team: Men's hockey
• » Priyanka Panwar, Tintu Luka, Mandeep Kaur, M. Poovamma: Women's 4X400m relay athletics
• » Indian team: Women's kabaddi
• » Indian team: Men's kabaddi

List of Silver Medalists for India: (10)

• » Saurav Ghosal: Men's singles squash
• » Pemba Tamang, Gurpreet Singh, Vijay Kumar: Men's 25m centre fire pistol team shooting
• » Dipika Pallikal, Joshna Chinappa, Anaka Alankamony: Women's team squash
• » Abhishek Verma: Men's individual compound archery
• » Khushbir Kaur: Women's 20 km race walk athletics
• » Saketh Myneni, Sanam Singh: Men's doubles tennis
• » Bajrang Kumar: Men's freestyle 61 kg wrestling
• » Vikas Gowda: Men's discus throws athletics
• » Tintu Luka: Women's 800m athletics
• » Manju Bala: Women's hammer throws athletics

List of Bronze Medalists for India: (36) 

• » Shweta Chaudhary: Women's 10 metre pistol shooting
• » Jitu Rai, Samaresh Jung, Prakash Nanjappa: Men's 10 metre air pistol team shooting
• » Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, P.C. Thulasi, Pradnya Gadre, N. Siki Reddy, Ashwini Ponnappa, Tanvi Lad: Women's team badminton
• » Rahi Sarnobat, Anisa Sayyed, Heena Sidhu: Women's 25 metre pistol team shooting
• » Dipika Pallikal: Women's singles squash
• » Abhinav Bindra, Ravi Kumar, Sanjeev Rajput: Men's 10 metre air rifle team shooting
• » Abhinav Bindra: Men's 10 metre air rifle shooting
• » Yumnam Sanathoi Devi: Women's sanda -52 kg wushu
• » Narendra Grewal: Men's sanda -60 kg wushu
• » Dushyant Chauhan: Men's lightweight single sculls rowing
• » Sawarn Singh: Men's single sculls rowing
• » Kapil Sharma, Ranjit Singh, Bajrang Lal Thakhar, Robin Ulahannan, Sawan Kumar Kalkal, Mohammad Azad, Maninder Singh, Davinder Singh, Mohammed Ahmed: men's eight rowing
• » Shagun Chowdhary, Shreyasi Singh, Varsha Varman: Women's double trap team shooting
• » Sandeep Sejwal: Men's 50m breaststroke swimming
• » Purvasha Sudhir, Surekha Vennam, Trisha Deb: Women's compound team archery
• » Chain Singh: Men's 50m rifle 3 positions shooting
• » Trisha Deb: Women's individual compound archery
• » Vinesh Phogat: Women's freestyle 48 kg wrestling
• » Geetika Jakhar: Women's freestyle 63 kg wrestling
• » Lalita Babar: Women's 3,000m steeplechase athletics
• » Yuki Bhambri: Men's singles tennis
• » Yuki Bhambri, Divij Sharan: Men's doubles tennis
• » Sania Mirza, Prarthana Thombare: Women's double tennis
• » M. Poovamma: Women's 400m athletics
• » Arokia Rajiv: Men's 400m athletics
• » O.P. Jaisha: Women's 1,500m athletics
• » Narsingh Pancham Yadav: Men's freestyle 74 kg wrestling
• » Naveen Kumar: Men's 3,000m steeplechase athletics
• » L. Sarita Devi: Women's 57-60 kg boxing
• » Pooja Rani: 75 kg boxing
• » Varsha Gautam, Aishwarya Nedunchezhiyan: Women's 29er two person dinghy sailing
• » India: Women's hockey
• » Annu Rani: Women's javelin throw athletics
• » Satish Kumar: Men's +91 kg boxing
• » Vikas Krishan: Men's 75 kg boxing
• » Inderjeet Singh: Men's shot put athletics

First Asian Games: 

• » The first Asian Games began on March 4, 1951 in New Delhi.
• » The Asian Games Association has choosen shining sun as its symbol.
• » The AGF (Asian Games Federation) adopted 'Ever Onward', given by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, as the motto of the Asian Games.
• » The emblem of Asian Games is a 'bright full rising sun' with interlocking rings.
• » The Maharaja of Patiala presented the Torch and the flag for the first Asian Games and since then they have been carried from country to country.

History of Asian Games: The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, described as the second largest multi-sport event after the Olympic Games held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games have been organized by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), and are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). 

Asian Games Federation in 1949, succeeding the Far Eastern Championship Games held in Manila, the Philippines, in 1913 and the West Asian Games held in New Delhi, India, in 1934. 

The West Asian Games were held in New Delhi, India, in 1934, and were participated in by India, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Palestine. In 1948, when the 14th London Olympic Games were held, six countries including Korea, the Philippines, Myanmar, India, Taiwan and Sri Lanka gathered and decided to host a combined Asian games. This led to the establishment of the AGF (Asian Games Federation) operated by National Olympic Committees in 1949.

Asian Games Host Cities: 

No.	Host Country	Host City	Year Held
16	China	Guangzhou	2010
15	Qatar	Doha	2006
14	Korea	Busan	2002
13	Thailand	Bangkok	1998
12	Japan	Hiroshima	1994
11	China	Beijing	1990
10	Korea	Seoul	1986
9	India	New Delhi	1982
8	Thailand	Bangkok	1978
7	Iran	Tehran	1974
6	Thailand	Bangkok	1970
5	Thailand	Bangkok	1966
4	Indonesia	Jakarta	1962
3	Japan	Tokyo	1958
2	Philippines	Manila	1954
1	India	New Delhi	1951