The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until the 1978 Games. Since the 1982 Games, they have been organized by the Olympic Council of Asia, after the breakup of the Asian Games Federation. The Games are recognized by the International Olympic Committee and are the second largest multi-sport event after the Olympic Games.
The 1951 Asian Games, officially known as the First Asian Games, was 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 Dehli 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 East Asian Games was a multi-sport event organized by the East Asian Games Association and held every four years from 1993 to 2013. Among those who competed included athletes from East Asian countries and territories of the Olympic Council of Asia, as well as the Pacific island nation of Guam, which is a member of the Oceania National Olympic Committees.
The 7th Asian Games, also known as Tehran 1974, were held from 1 to 16 September 1974 in Tehran, Iran. The Aryamehr Sports Complex was built for the Games. This marked the first time the Asian Games were hosted in the Middle East. Tehran, the capital of Iran, played host to 3,010 athletes coming from 25 countries/NOCs, the highest number of participants since the inception of the Games.
The 1998 Asian Games, officially known as the 13th Asian Games and the XIII Asiad,, or simply Bangkok 1998, was an Asian multi-sport event celebrated in Bangkok, Thailand from December 6 to 20, 1998, with 377 events in 36 sports and disciplines participated by 6,554 athletes across the continent. The sporting events commenced on 30 November 1998, a week earlier than the opening ceremony. It is a last time that the multi-sport event would be held in Bangkok until the 2007 Summer Universiade.
The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) is a governing body of sports in Asia, currently with 45 member National Olympic Committees. Talal Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah was elected as President of the OCA on 8 July 2023. However, on 30 July 2023, the International Olympic Committee asked Randhir Singh, who was the acting president at the time, to continue as the Acting President of the OCA while the IOC investigated the OCA presidential election of 2023. On 13 October 2023, the IOC ethics committee asked the OCA to annul its 2023 elections due to Talal’s candidacy not fulfilling the eligibility conditions defined by the OCA Constitution and election interference by his brother Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah.
The South Asian Games is a quadrennial multi-sport event held among athletes from South Asia. The South Asia Olympic Council, which was formed in 1983, governs it. The Games consist of seven countries, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan had participated in the Games four times, but left the SAOC after participating in 2016.
The 2013 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, officially 4th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games and also known as Incheon 2013, was a pan-continental event held in Incheon, South Korea from 29 June to 6 July 2013 that served as a dress-rehearsal for the upcoming 2014 Asian Games, which was also held in the same city. It was the first event to be held under the "Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games" name following the merger of two OCA events – Asian Indoor Games and Asian Martial Arts Games, inherited the edition numeral of the former. Doha, Qatar was initially scheduled to host the 4th Asian Indoor Games in 2011, but withdrawn in June 2008 due to "unforeseen circumstances", with the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) chose Incheon instead as a replacement and postponed the games to 2013.
2009 Asian Martial Arts Games, officially the 1st Asian Martial Arts Games, were a pancontinential martial arts multi-sport event held in Bangkok, Thailand from 1 to 9 August 2009 with 9 events contested. Due to Political crisis in Thailand And 2009 Swine Flu, the Bangkok Asian Martial Arts Games Organizing Committee (BAMAGOC) and the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Thailand decided that Asian Martial Arts Games moved from the original schedule of 25 April to 3 May to 1 to 9 August.
The Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games is a pancontinental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. It is organised by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and consists of Indoor and martial arts events with TV broadcasting potential, some of which were not contested at the Asian Games and Asian Winter Games Programs and are not Olympic sports.
The 1st West Asian Games was held from 19 to 28 November 1997 in Tehran, Iran and had around 850 athletes and 236 team officials participating from 10 countries in 15 sports. Initially only men were allowed to participate.
The 2002 West Asian Games was the second edition of the multi-sport event for countries in West Asia and was held in Kuwait City from 3 to 12 April 2002.
The 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, which is also counted as the 5th Asian Indoor Games, was held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan in 2017. It became the third city in the former Soviet countries to win the right of hosting an Olympic Council of Asia-sanctioned event, following Astana and Almaty in Kazakhstan, which jointly-hosted the 2011 Asian Winter Games. The host city was chosen in Kuwait on 19 December 2010. On 6 July 2013 the flag of the Olympic Council of Asia was officially handed over to the mayor of the city of Ashgabat.
The 2017 Asian Winter Games (2017アジア冬季競技大会), also known as Sapporo 2017 (札幌2017), was a continental winter multi sport events and the 8th edition of the Asian Winter Games. They were held from February 19 to 26, 2017 in Sapporo and Obihiro in Hokkaido, Japan.
The 2024 Asian Youth Games or AYG 2024, officially the 3rd Asian Youth Games and commonly as Shantou 2021, is a cancelled multi-sport event which was intended to be held in Shantou, Guangdong, China in 2024.
The 2016 South Asian Games, officially the XII South Asian Games, is a major multi-sport event which took place from 5 February to 16 February 2016 in Guwahati and Shillong, India. A total of 2,672 athletes competed in 226 events over 22 sports. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 2016 South Asian Games in Guwahati on 5 February 2016. India continued its dominance in the game's medal tally with a staggering 308 medals including 188 gold medals.
The 2026 Asian Games (2026年アジア競技大会), also known as 20th Asian Games (第20回アジア競技大会) and Aichi-Nagoya 2026 (愛知/名古屋2026), will be a multi-sport event celebrated around the Aichi Prefecture in Japan from 19 September to 4 October 2026. The prefecture capital Nagoya will be the epicenter of the events. Nagoya will be the third Japanese city to host the Asian Games, after Tokyo in 1958 and Hiroshima in 1994. The event is set to return to its traditional 4-year cycle, after the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China were postponed to 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2021 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, officially known as the 6th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games and also known as Bangkok–Chonburi 2021, was a planned pan-Asian multi-sport event in indoor and martial arts sports that was supposed to be held from 21 to 30 November 2024 in Thailand, with its capital Bangkok and the eastern Thai province of Chonburi serving as joint co-hosts.
The GCC Games is a regional multi-sport event which involves participants from the Gulf Cooperation Council region. The GCC Games, a quadrennial multi-sport event, was established by the union and first held in 2011. There are numerous long-running GCC Championships for individual sports, including: the Gulf Cooperation Council Athletics Championships football, Archery, athletics, Badminton, sailing, basketball, Swimming, Marathon Swimming, Diving, Water Polo, Artistic Swimming, tennis, gymnastics, weightlifting, futsal, snooker, Cycling, Chess and table tennis. The 3rd edition of the game had to be organized in June 2019, but held in 2022 due to the internal issues between the GCC state countries. The 4th edition has been announced and will happen as per the announced dates. For the first time the games will be organized by the new, young and talented faces of GCC team.
