Home2020Badminton at the Asian Games

Badminton at the Asian Games

 

Badminton at the Asian Games

 

Yesterday it was announced that Qatar’s capital city Doha will host the 2030 Asian Games and Saudi Arabia’s capital city Riyadh, will host the 2034 Games. In light of this recent announcement, let’s take a quick look at badminton’s history at the Asian Games.

 

The Asian Games is a continental multi-sport event that is held every four years among athletes all over the Asian continent. The first games were held in New Delhi, India in 1951, while the latest one was in Jakarta-Palembang, Indonesia in 2018. 9 countries have been host nations and 46 nations have participated in the games. It is often known as the second largest multi-sport event after the Olympics.

 

Badminton has been a part of the Asian Games for a very long time. It was first introduced as a demonstration sport in the 1958 games in Tokyo, Japan before becoming a regular sport in the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia. In 1962, the events held were singles, doubles and the team event for both men and women. It was only in the next Asian Games in 1966 where the mixed doubles event was introduced. 

 

The top competing countries in badminton have historically been made up of these 5 countries: China, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan and Malaysia. China leads the pack with an incredible total of 107 medals with 43 of them being gold. Indonesia comes second with 99 medals with 28 gold, and South Korea comes third with 66 medals total with 16 gold. 

 

Many legendary players have participated and won in the Asian Games, including Indonesian legends such as Liem Swie King, Taufik Hidayat and Susi Susanti. Legendary Chinese player Lin Dan won back to back gold medals at the Men’s Singles event and Malaysian player Lee Chong Wei won silver at the 2010 games.

 

Many of the top players currently have also been victorious in these games. World #1 Tai Tzu Ying won gold at the last Asian games, while world #7 P.V. Sindhu took silver. World #1 Kento Momota helped Japan get third for the Men’s Team and World #2 Chou Tien-chen got silver at the last games 2 years ago.

 

The 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta-Palembang saw the rise of young and enthusiastic Indonesian players including Jonatan Christie, and the thrilling all-Indonesian final between Marcus Gideon/Kevin Sanjaya and Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto gave rise to a new generation of talent.

 

But what’s most exciting in the upcoming Asian Games will be the rise in athletes from other Asian nations. In 2018, 224 athletes from 19 nations competed, including players from Iran, Mongolia, Nepal, Maldives, and more. We hope to see more athletes from a wider variety of nations compete and succeed in the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. 

 

Badminton Asia is rooting for all athletes and the continued success of the Asian Games.

 

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