War, freedom & sport

By Anil John/Seoul

Violent winds of change were gusting across the world. The upheavals resulting from the independence struggles in India, China and Korea, the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by US bombs and the bloodshed that followed the partition of the subcontinent cost millions of lives.

In Europe, many countries were sucked into the maelstrom of the Second World War. Germany was humbled as the Allied Forces and Russia swept in from different directions. Hitler, the Fuhrer, killed himself - a combination of gunshot wound and cyanide, it’s believed. Wholesale tumult was paying Planet Earth such a devastating visit that it would permanently alter the course of history – and, of course, geography.

These were perhaps the most violent 10 years in recorded history – but paradoxical as it may seem, it was also a period when great hope and expectation reigned. International boundaries were redrawn and new nations emerged, free from bondage and oppression. Freedom, which for many existed only in their dreams, suddenly became the buzzword as independent countries began the difficult but enthusiastic process of charting their own destiny.

The Communists took hold of China; disparate India beat the odds to cobble together a democracy that still survives despite many odds; the Koreans fought and divided themselves into two different nations polarised by ideology and technically still at war. The political contours of Africa and Europe also underwent massive changes. Among all the mind-numbing chaos, who in his right mind would think of sport?

The all-pervading violence inevitably claimed sport as collateral damage. The 1940 Olympic Games, to be held in Tokyo, were cancelled because many countries were opposed to the Japanese aggression in Asia. It was another matter that Japan, too, was not very keen to host the event because it would have distracted it from its military objectives.

The 1944 Olympics also became a victim of the turbulence sweeping the world. The Ashes series was stalled from 1939 to 1946 because of the war and for the fact that many cricketers were fighting on the front. Hedley Verity, the England bowler, was one of the sport’s major casualties, dying in Italy as a prisoner of war after suffering serious injuries while leading his platoon in an ambush on a German post. Don Bradman, the greatest batsman in history, missed seven potentially run-filled years because of the turmoil. Frail and sickly, he was rejected by the Australian armed forces, but obviously when it came to cricket he possessed superhuman qualities. As his awesome record suggests, military’s loss was undoubtedly cricket’s gain.

For the newly-free nations though, it was not all plain sailing. There were numerous internal conflicts before true peace was established and people started building their lives. And soon it was time to put sport back on the agenda.

Bound by a newfound spirit of kinship, Asia longed for a sporting competition of its own, and the process was set in motion during the 1948 London Olympics when India’s International Olympic Committee (IOC) representative Guru Dutt Sondhi proposed the idea of the Asian Games. But such a giant step could not be taken all of a sudden and Asian sports leaders agreed to approach the issue cautiously. It was decided to first establish the Asian Amateur Athletic Federation, and subsequently the Asian Games Federation also took roots. Perhaps, because India took the lead, New Delhi was given the rights to host the first edition of the Asian Games, in 1951.

It was a modest yet path-breaking event in the annals of sport with just 11 countries and 489 athletes taking part. The Games have been held every four years ever since despite numerous odds that kept springing up now and then. The event encountered its first major crisis when Indonesia was due to host the fourth edition in 1962. On the insistence of Arab countries, the Israelis were refused visas and athletes from the Republic of China, as Taiwan was known as then, were also denied participation under pressure from the mainland People’s Republic of China.

A total of 1,460 athletes from 16 countries competed in Jakarta where badminton made its debut. The Games, however, lurched into another crisis when South Korea backed out as the host in 1970 after being threatened by the North. But the situation was retrieved when Bangkok put up its hand and agreed to play host. A grateful South Korea provided much of the funds.

In 1974, the Games in Iran were held under a political cloud with Muslim majority countries refusing to play their matches against Israel. In 1978, Pakistan dropped its plan to host the games due to regional problems. Thailand offered to help again and the Games were held once again in Bangkok, which has now played host four times. Due to these unsavoury events, it was decided to revise the constitution of the Asian Games Federation and a new body - The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) - was formed under whose aegis the Games have been held since 1986.

The Games of the eighties coincided with the giant leaps countries in the continent were making in various fields of human endeavour, especially science and technology and commerce. Japan, which adopted a pacifist constitution after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki horrors, concentrated its energies on development to become one of the largest economic powers in the world. Sony, Panasonic and Toyota became household names, outselling American products even in the US – Japanese imperialism in another form, one might argue.

The South Koreans dumped military rule and adopted democracy with the result that they, too, are now thriving and a major force on the economic front. Samsung and Hyundai are giving the best a run for their money. Many of the top companies sponsoring not only the Asian Games but even other top sports events such as the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup are also from South Korea.

In the 80s, the Chinese also had established themselves as a continental sporting power after Japan had dominated the first eight Asian Games. 1982 was China’s breakthrough year when its athletes dazzled New Delhi with stirring performances. Their 61 gold medals pushed Japan to the second place for the first time in the history of the event after which they never looked back and went on to make their mark at the Olympic level. Not bad for a country that had won only one gold medal at the Bangkok Asian Games in 1970!

Excelling in sport became such a priority with the Chinese government that it went to extraordinary lengths to ensure its athletes matched the best in the business. Large-scale talent identification programmes were undertaken throughout the nation and boys and girls as young as four were taken under government tutelage for rigorous training in sports like gymnastics, table tennis, badminton, aquatics and athletics. It had become a nation obsessed with sport.

Middle Eastern countries, however, were nominal participants in the Asian Games until 1974 when Iran hosted the event in which 25 nations participated. Iran won 36 gold medals to finish second, but none of the Gulf teams could make much of an impression. In fact,  Qatar has the best record among Gulf countries with 27 gold medals so far, its best being nine gold at the Doha Asian Games in 2006.

Doha 2006 was a turning point not just for Qatar but for the entire region where strict traditions overruled everything else in the past. However, the impact of globalisation has spawned a change in official attitudes. Women have been given the freedom to compete in sport, although it’s an area where lots more need to be done because opportunities are still limited. Also, efforts should be made to make women’s participation more acceptable in the eyes of the public.

In other fields of development, the last 10 years have seen the region, especially Dubai and Doha, go into an overdrive in their bid to position themselves as global players in matters of politics, finance, industry and sport. Glitzy malls, ultra-luxurious hotels and futuristic sporting facilities in the region are now rated among the best in the world.

Qatar, of course, will also host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the most passionately followed event on the planet. As far as the Middle East is concerned, it could be an epochal occasion -- one that has the potential to greatly impact the history of the region -- in a way only sport can.