Asian Games 2014 : Kazakhstan and Iran make
Islamic world proud
-Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal
_______________________________
The 17th Asian Games – kicked off in Incheon, South Korea on September 19 and
concluded on 04 October. Countries of Asian continent showcase their individual
and team sport skills at Asian Games, also known as the XVII Asiad. The 2014
Asian Games took place with 45 nations participating in Incheon with 439
events in 36 sports and disciplines set to feature in the Games. There
were 439 gold, same or more number of Silver and double number of bronze
medals to be grabbed by the best teams in Asia.
At 2014 Asian Games China topped the gold medalists lists, getting 151 gold
medals while South Korea 76 gold, Japan 48. However, China had got more medals
199 gold medals, South Korea 79 gold, Japan 47 at 2010 Asian Games.
Kazakhstan, a former republic of mighty Soviet Union, tops the gold
ranking among Muslim nations in Asia. At 2010 Asian Games Iran got 20
gold medals while Kazakhstan got 18 gold. Now in 2014, Kazakhstan 28 gold and
Iran 21 gold. While Iran improved its gold tally by one more medal this year, Kazakhstan
has got a big leap of 28 gold medals- an additional 10 gold medals.
Reaching fifth in 2010 Asian games, Iran had won 20 gold, 15 silver and 24
bronze
medals followed by Kazakhstan winning 18 gold, 23 silver and 38 bronze
medals.
Generally the central Asian countries have done well. but
Kazakhstan is superb..
In fact, Kazakhstan's' improvement in gold medals is indeed historic.
Other Muslim nations have also improved but not substantially.
China led in 2010 the medal table for the eighth consecutive time in the Asian
Games. They led all the medal categories, winning the most gold medals (199),
the most silver medals (119), the most bronze medals (98) and the most medals
overall (416, nearly 40% of all medals awarded). Macau and Bangladesh won
their first Asian Games gold medals, from wushu and cricket, respectively
Performance of Muslim nations at international sport events, however, does
not highlight the real strength of Islamic world in any way . However,
countries do not make any impact on sports events internationally tend to
be weak nations by all standards.
Below is the list of the performance of other Asian Muslim nations that
participated in the Asian games of 2010.
Medals Tally of Asian Muslim nations
CountryGoldSilverBronzeTotal
Kazakhstan28233384
Iran21181857
Thailand1272847
North Korea11111436
Qatar100414
Uzbekistan9142144
Bahrain96419
Malaysia5141433
Indonesia451120
Kuwait35412
Saudi Arabia3317
Tajikistan1135
Pakistan1135
United Arab Emirates1034
Iraq1034
Kyrgzstan0246
Jordan0224
Turkmenistan0156
Bangladesh0123
Lebanon0112
Afghanistan0112
Syria0000
Oman0000
Maldives0000
Yemen0000
Palestine0000
As it stands, Kazakhstan tops the Asian Muslim nations with 28 gold medals,
followed by Iran with 21 gold, Qatar 10 gold, Uzbekistan 9 gold, Bahrain 9
gold; Malaysia 5, Indonesia 4 gold, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait 3 gold each,
Kirghistan, Bangladesh and Tajikistan two gold medals each, UAE, Iraq and
Pakistan 1 gold each. While Pakistan has got as one gold medal, Bangladesh got
just a silver this time, while last time Pakistan had 2 gold and Bangladesh one
gold. Lebanon, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Kirghistan and Turkmenistan got
sliver medals , are yet to win a gold in future. Syria, Oman, Yemen, Maldives
and Palestine are yet to open any account even in bronze medals.
South Korea has twice held the Asian Games - in 1986 and 2002.
The 2019 Games will be held in Jakarta, Indonesia and during another
important occasion, extinguishing of the flame will be carried out at the
end of the closing in Incheon.
Goodbye Incheon,
Best wishes for Muslims nations for more d medals and better performance.
Welcome Jakarta!
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Notes:
1. Participant nations : Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei,
Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan,
Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives,
Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian territories,
Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria,
Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, East Timor, Turkmenistan, United
Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen.
2. There 36 sports: Aquatics (diving, swimming, synchronized swimming,
water polo), archery, athletics, badminton, baseball/softball, basketball,
bowling (ten-pin), boxing,canoeing (slalom/sprint), cricket, cycling
(BMX/mountain bike/road/track),equestrianism, fencing, field
hockey, football, golf, gymnastics
(artistic/rhythmic/trampolining), handball, judo,kabaddi, karate,
modern
pentathlon, rowing, rugby sevens, sailing, sepaktakraw, shooting, squash,
table tennis, taekwondo, tennis/soft tennis, triathlon, volleyball/beach
volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, wushu New Disciplines Compound
archery, mixed relay triathlon, soft tennis. Sports Dropped Roller sports,
board games, cue sports, dance sport, dragon boating. True, many of these
spots are played only for such tournaments and not particularly played by
people
.
3. The 2010 Asian Games was a multi-sport event held in Guangzhou, China
from 12 to 27 November 2010. The event saw 9,704 athletes from 45 National
Olympic Committees (NOCs) competing in 476 events in 42 sports. This medal
table ranks the participating NOCs by the number of gold medals won by
their athletes. A total of 1,577 medals (477 gold, 479 silver and 621 bronze)
were awarded.
4. The total number of bronze medals is greater than the total number of gold
or silver medals because two bronze medals were awarded per event in 15
sports: badminton, boxing, cue sports, fencing, judo, kabaddi, karate,
sepaktakraw, soft tennis, squash, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis,
wrestling and wushu (except for taolu events) This discrepancy is also
caused by ties. In men's floor events in artistic gymnastics, there was a tie
for the gold medal and no silver was awarded. There were also ties for the
silver medal in men's 200 metres breaststroke in swimming, men's pole vault in
athletics, and men's doubles in bowling.
5. Asian games have made improvements. Medal tally at the 2010 Asian Games is
given below: China table for the eighth consecutive time with a new record for
the most number of gold medals (at 199 gold medals) won in a single Games. This
bettered their previous record of 183 gold medals won by China at Beijing in
1990. Compared to the 28 sports and 302 events in the Olympic Games, the 2010
Asian Games featured 42 sports and 476 events throughout the 16 days of the
competition, with added disciplines in some events. This version of the Asian
Games comprised more sports and events than the last one, as 39 sports and 424
events were in the calendar of 2006 Asian Games. T20 or Twenty20 cricket (
which is a fake sport as runs are made by mutual understanding for 50 and 100
run) was one of the début sports, while dance sport, dragon boat, weiqi and
roller sport were unique in the Games. Bodybuilding was dropped due to judging
controversy in the 2006 Games
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