Asian Para Games - Part 1

(இதன் தமிழ் வடிவத்திற்கு இங்கே சொடுக்கவும்)

Asian Para Games

• The Asian Para Games, also known as Para Asiad, is a multi-sport event.
• It is regulated by the Asian Paralympic Committee.
• It is conducted in every four years after every Asian Games for athletes with physical disabilities.
• Both events had adopted the strategy used by the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
• The said both games will be held in the same city.
• However, after the exclusion of Asian Para Games from Asian Games, the host city contract meant that both events ran independently of each other.
• The Games are recognized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

• It is described as the second largest multi-sport event after the Paralympic Games.
• In its history, three nations have hosted the Asian Para Games and Forty-four nations have participated in the Games.
• The most recent games were held in Hangzhou, China between 22 and 28 October 2023.
• The next games are scheduled to be held in Nagoya, Japan between 14 and 22 October 2026.

History

• The FESPIC Games existed previous to the Asian Para Games and was contested by athletes from the Asia Pacific region.
• The FESPIC Games was first held in 1975 in Oita, Japan with 18 participating nations.
• Eight more FESPIC Games were held until 2006.
• The Asian Para Games superseded the FESPIC Games.
• FESPIC Games was dissolved alongside the FESPIC Federation.
• The governing body of the games and merged with the Asian Paralympic Council.

• It was renamed as the Asian Paralympic Committee at the closing of the final FESPIC edition held in November 2006 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• The first Asian multi-sports event for athletes with a disability, the inaugural Asian Para Games was held in 2010 in Guangzhou, China.
• Although there is the idea of holding the Asian and the Asian Para Games in the same city as happening on the Olympics and the Paralympics.
• To this day there is no mention of the Para Asian Games in the contract for the host city of the Asian Games.
• It means that the events are held completely separately and without any connection.
• Both games ran independently of each other and were managed by different Organizing Committees.

Sports

• 27 Sports were presented in Asian Para Games history.
• It is including 2010 Asian Para Games to 2022 Asian Para Games.

Mascots

• The Asian Para Games mascots are fictional characters.
• Usually, an animal native to the area or human figures, who represent the cultural heritage of the place where the Asian Para Games are taking place.
• The mascots are often used to help market the Asian Para Games to a younger audience.
• Every Asian Para Games has its own mascot.
• Fun Fun, the mascot for the 2010 Asian Para Games, was the first mascot.

Medal count

• Of the 45 National Paralympic Committees are participating throughout the history of the Games.
• 39 nations have won at least a single medal in the competition, leaving 6 nations: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Maldives and Tajikistan yet to win a single medal.
• 32 nations have won at least one gold medal and China became the only nation in history to emerge as overall champions.

Asian Para Games 2023

• The 2022 Asian Para Games is also known as the 4th Asian Para Games and commonly known as the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Para Games.
• It was a multi-sport event that paralleled the 2022 Asian Games.
• It was held for Asian athletes with disabilities in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China from 22 to 28 October 2023.
• Hangzhou was the second Chinese city to host the Asian Para Games, after Guangzhou in 2010.
• Originally it was scheduled to take place from 9 to 15 October 2022.
• But the event was postponed to 2023 on due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Host city

• As is the tradition of the event, since 2010, the Asian Para Games are usually held after every Asian Games in the same host country.
• On 16 September 2018, the Asian Paralympic Committee announced that Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province of China hosted the fourth edition of the Asian Para Games.
• The city was previously awarded the 2022 Asian Games on 16 September 2015 by the Olympic Council of Asia.

Development and preparation

Emblem

• The official emblem of the 2022 Asian Para Games, "Ever Forward" was unveiled on 2 March 2020.
• It features a wheelchair athlete striving forward on a running track with 10 semi-arc lines and resembling surging Qiantang River tides.
• The organizing committee stated that the emblem was meant to reflect "the sublime heroism of the para-athletes in persevering and challenging themselves".

Mascot

• Fei Fei, a character inspired by the motive of the divine bird in the Liangzhu culture, is a symbol of bliss in local legend.
• It was unveiled online on 16 April 2020 as the official mascot of the Games.
• The first "fly" is the flight of a bird.
• The high sky allows birds to fly.
• It means a good atmosphere of tolerance, respect and friendship in human society.
• The second "fly" is the mental state of disabled athletes.

• It displays a pattern of the Liangzhu Culture around its body from wings to cheeks.
• And the letter "i" on its crown representing intelligence and Hangzhou as the City of Internet.
• It blinks when it is happy or playing sports.
• Its chest features a ring of 45 dots.
• It represents the Asian Paralympic Committee's (APC) members, with the Games logo in the centre.
• It is described as the fusion of Hangzhou's heritage.
• It drives for technological innovation and a messenger of joy and cultural distinction.

Motto

• The official motto of the 2022 Asian Para Games was "Hearts meet, Dreams shine".
• It was unveiled on the same day as the emblem.
• Similar to the motto of the Asian Games, it symbolizes connectivity between the countries of Asia.

Medals

• On 14 July 2023, the 100-day countdown to the 4th Asian Para Games, the medal design named "Osmanthus Grace" was released.
• Its name was derived from a Tang lyric poem composed by the poet of Hangzhou a thousand years ago.
• The medal design was a combination of two different Jades: round green Bi and yellow square Cong in the Liangzhu culture, respectively.
• It is associated with heaven and earth.
• The obverse featured the Games edition logo encircled by Sweet Osmanthus flowers – city flower of Hangzhou, while the reverse featured the Asian Paralympic Council Emblem.
• It is surrounded by braille letters and the name of the event in Chinese and English.

Sports

• The Games featured 501 gold medal events in 22 sports (in 23 disciplines).
• These disciplines were split into many events.
• It is including Para Taekwondo, Para Canoe and Go.
• These were included for the first time in the games' programme.
• Absent from the previous edition, Blind Football and Rowing which were not featured at the 2018 edition returned.

• The organizing committee chose to drop the bowling events held at the 3 previous editions due a lack of possible venues.
• In this edition, 438 of 501 events planned (616 was planned in 2021 but was decreased to 566 in 2023 and later decreased to 501 in games).
• During the 2020 Summer Paralympics program were also scheduled to be held.
• Changes compared to 2018 program (2022 had 60 more events than 2018 (566) but because of merged and removed events it was decreased to 501).

Participation

• 43 National Paralympic Committees, who are members of the Asian Paralympic Committee, were expected to compete.
• North Korea withdrew from the games after the Asian Paralympic Committee refused to allow it to use their national symbols in compliance with sanctions by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
• The WADA imposed the sanction on October 2021 due to North Korea's non-compliance with doping regulations.

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