Afghanistan at the Asian Games

Afghanistan is a member of the Central Asian Zone of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), and has participated in the Asian Games since their inception in 1951. The Afghanistan National Olympic Committee, established in 1935 and recognised by the International Olympic Committee in 1936, is the National Olympic Committee for Afghanistan.[1]

Afghanistan at the
Asian Games
IOC codeAFG
NOCAfghanistan National Olympic Committee
Medals
Ranked 40th
Gold
0
Silver
6
Bronze
12
Total
18
Summer appearances
Winter appearances

Afghanistan was one of the five founding members of the Asian Games Federation on 13 February 1949, in New Delhi; the organisation was disbanded on 26 November 1981 and replaced by the Olympic Council of Asia.[2][3]

Membership of Olympic Council of Asia edit

Afghanistan is a member of the Central Asian Zone of the Olympic Council of Asia, the governing body of all the sports in Asia, recognised by the International Olympic Committee as the continental association of Asia.[4][5][a] It was a member of the South Asian Zone, where Afghanistan participated in the South Asian Games, from 2004 to 2016.[6]

The OCA organises five major continental-level multi-sport events: the Asian Summer Games (which are commonly known as the Asian Games), Asian Winter Games, Asian Indoor-Martial Arts Games, Asian Beach Games, and Asian Youth Games. Before 2009, Indoor and Martial Arts were two separate events for indoor and martial arts sports respectively. However, the OCA has since amalgamated them into a single event, the Asian Indoor-Martial Arts Games, which will be debuted in 2013 in Incheon, South Korea.[7] As a member of OCA, Afghanistan is privileged to participate in all these multi-sport events.

Asian Games edit

Afghanistan has competed in the Asian Games since the inaugural edition of the Games in 1951 in New Delhi. On 26 September 1996, the Taliban took over Kabul and established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.[8] Under the Taliban regime all types of sporting activities were deprecated, as according to the Taliban, most of them were against the teachings of Islam and Islamic law. Many stadiums, like Ghazi Stadium of Kabul, were either destroyed or converted into venues for public executions and punishments.[9] Women were banned from taking part in any type of sport; male athletes were allowed to participate in a few sports, but were forced to wear long sleeves, trousers and beards. Following such incidents and discrimination against women, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee and barred them from taking part in the Olympic Games.[10]

A few months before the 2000 Summer Olympics, the IOC offered the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee the opportunity to send a contingent to the Games without the Taliban flag. The Committee declined to take part on this condition.[8]

Participation of Afghan sportsmen without representing the Emirate (Afghanistan) and its flag will mean nothing. We will not send anyone on an individual basis

—Abdul Shukoor Mutmaen[8]

Afghanistan did not send a delegation to the 1998 Asian Games held in Bangkok, Thailand, due to economic difficulties. Laws implemented by the Taliban government also made it impossible for Afghan athletes to compete. For example, the International Boxing Association (AIBA) does not allow players to have beards and mustaches, but Afghan males were forbidden to cut their facial hair.[11][12] Afghanistan returned to the Asian Games after the fall of the Taliban government in the midst of an ongoing war.[13] In June 2003, the IOC lifted the suspension imposed on Afghanistan during the 115th IOC Session in Prague.[14]

Afghanistan status unclear for the future participation since brought under the political turmoil.[15]

Medals by games edit

  Peach colour indicates best performance
Games Rank Gold Silver Bronze Total
  1951 New Delhi - 0 0 0 0
  1954 Manila 11 0 1 0 1
  1958 Tokyo - 0 0 0 0
  1962 Jakarta 13 0 0 1 1
  1966 Bangkok - 0 0 0 0
  1970 Bangkok did not participate
  1974 Tehran 19 0 0 1 1
  1978 Bangkok did not participate
  1982 New Delhi 17 0 1 0 1
  1986 Seoul did not participate
  1990 Beijing - 0 0 0 0
  1994 Hiroshima - 0 0 0 0
  1998 Bangkok did not participate
  2002 Busan 36 0 0 1 1
  2006 Doha 36 0 0 1 1
  2010 Guangzhou 29 0 2 1 3
  2014 Incheon 35 0 1 1 2
  2018 Jakarta & Palembang 35 0 0 2 2
  2022 Hangzhou 30 0 1 4 5
  2026 Nagoya Future event
  2030 Doha Future event
  2034 Riyadh Future event
Total 40 0 6 12 18

Asian Winter Games edit

Medals by games edit

Games Rank Gold Silver Bronze Total
2007 Changchun 0 0 0 0
2011 Astana & Almaty 0 0 0 0
Total 0 0 0 0

Asian Beach Games edit

Afghanistan has competed in both the editions of the Asian Beach Games. In the 2008 Asian Beach Games, Afghanistan won two medals, a gold and a bronze.[16] In the 2010 Asian Beach Games in Muscat, no Afghan athletes won any medals.

Medals by games edit

Games Rank Gold Silver Bronze Total
2008 Bali 18 1 0 1 2
2010 Muscat 0 0 0 0
2012 Haiyang 9 1 0 0 1
2014 Phuket 31 0 2 2 4
2016 Danang 32 0 0 3 3
Total 31 2 2 6 10

Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games edit

Medals by games edit

Games Rank Gold Silver Bronze Total
Asian Indoor Games
2007 Macau 0 0 0 0
2009 Hanoi 26 0 2 2 4
Asian Martial Arts Games
2009 Bangkok 15 2 2 8 12
Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games
2013 Incheon 25 0 0 3 3
2017 Ashgabat 26 1 1 10 3
Total 29 3 5 23 31

Asian Youth Games edit

The First Asian Youth Games were held in Singapore from 29 June 2009 to 7 July 2009 and featured over 90 sporting events. Afghanistan did not send its delegation to the Games.[17]

Medals by games edit

Games Rank Gold Silver Bronze Total
2013 Nanjing 0 0 0 0
Total 0 0 0 0

Medals by sport edit

   Leading in that sport

Asian Games edit

Sport Gold Silver Bronze Total
Cricket 0 3 0 3
Kurash 0 0 2 2
Taekwondo 0 1 5 6
Wrestling 0 2 2 4
Wushu 0 0 3 3
Total 0 6 12 18

See also edit

Notes and references edit

Notes
References
  1. ^ "Council – Member Countries". ocasia.org. Olympic Council of Asia. Archived from the original on 3 February 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  2. ^ "The First Asian Games Championships will be held in March 1951 at New Delhi" (PDF). la84foundation.org. LA84 Foundation. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  3. ^ "Council – OCA History". ocasia.org. Olympic Council of Asia. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  4. ^ "NOCs". ocasia.org. Olympic Council of Asia. Archived from the original on 10 January 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  5. ^ "National Olympic Committees". olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  6. ^ "Games – South Asian Games". ocasia.org. Olympic Council of Asia. Archived from the original on 4 March 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  7. ^ "Games". ocasia.org. Olympic Council of Asia. Archived from the original on 31 December 2011. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  8. ^ a b c McDonald, Scott (17 August 2000). "Taleban hope to get ban revoked". rediff.com. Islamabad. Reuters. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  9. ^ Goodwin, Jan. "Buried Alive: Afghan Women Under the Taliban". mtholyoke.edu. Mount Holyoke College. Archived from the original on 2 January 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  10. ^ Hennessy-Fiske, Molly (28 April 2011). "Kabul's scarved boxers – Female Olympic hopefuls train at a stadium where the Taliban used to publicly execute women". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  11. ^ "WSB Technical and Competition Rules-Season 2-Final version  – Eligibility of boxers – Medical eligibility" (PDF). worldseriesboxing.com. World Series of Boxing (AIBA). Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 March 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  12. ^ "Mongolia confirms participation, making it 42 nations Asiad". sadec.com. Sadec Asia Pacific. 23 November 1998. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  13. ^ "The Koreas united, for a day – Plus Afghanistan's sporting comeback". The Economist. Westminster. 3 October 2002. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  14. ^ "Afghanistan back in Olympics – Olympic bosses have cleared the way for Afghanistan to compete at the Games in Athens next year". BBC News. 29 June 2003. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  15. ^ "Bach praises response of Olympic community to Afghanistan crisis with more than 100 assisted in leaving nation".
  16. ^ "1st Asian Beach Games – Medal Tally of 1st Asian Beach Games". sports.gov.pk. Pakistan Sports Board. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  17. ^ "Games – Asian Youth Games – Singapore 2009". ocasia.org. Olympic Council of Asia. Archived from the original on 13 June 2010. Retrieved 9 January 2012.

External links edit