1990 Asian Games
The 11th Asian Games also known as XI Asiad were held from September 22, 1990 to October 7, 1990 in Beijing, China. It was the first large-scale international sports event to be held in the People's Republic of China. A total number of 6,122 athletes, coming from 37 countries, competed in 29 sports. Debuting sports included softball, sepak takraw, wushu, kabaddi and canoeing.
The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) lost its president, Sheikh Fahad Al-Sabah, during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait of the same year, creating the most shocking news surrounding the 11th Asiad. OCA headquarters were temporarily moved to the United Kingdom, until Kuwait was liberated in 1991.
Seven world records (six in archery, one in cycling) and 89 Asian records were broken, while one world record and eleven Asian records were equalled in the Beijing Asiad.
The games served as a pre-cursor to China's further development in the sporting arena, as the country went on to bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics (losing to Sydney) and eventually win the bid for the 2008 Summer Olympics. China dominated the games, grabbing 60% of the gold medals and 34% of the total medal count.
To commemorate the 11th Asian Games, three different sets of stamps were issued in 1988, 1989 and 1990.
Read more about 1990 Asian Games: Mascot, Participating NOCs, Sports, Medal Table
Famous quotes containing the words asian and/or games:
“Exploitation and oppression is not a matter of race. It is the system, the apparatus of world-wide brigandage called imperialism, which made the Powers behave the way they did. I have no illusions on this score, nor do I believe that any Asian nation or African nation, in the same state of dominance, and with the same system of colonial profit-amassing and plunder, would have behaved otherwise.”
—Han Suyin (b. 1917)
“Whatever games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves, but deal in our privacy with the last honesty and truth.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)