‘Kind River’ city ready as Korea hosts AG for third time

Dinensh Weerawansa

Yet another edition of the Asian Games will be unveiled in South Korea on September 19 with 45 countries in Asia vying for honours under 36 disciplines. Hosting the 17th edition of the Asian Games will be Incheon, which in Korean literally means ‘Kind River’.

Formerly romanised as Inchon, it is now officially known as Incheon Metropolitan City, located in northwestern South Korea, 27 km off the capital Seoul.

The city was home to just 4,700 people when Jemulpo port was built in 1883. Today 2.9 million people live in the city, making it Korea’s third most populous city after Seoul (which hosted the 1986 Asian Games) and Busan (the host city of 2002 Asian Games).

While people have inhabited the area since the New Stone Age, Incheon’s growth was assured in modern times with the development of its port due to its natural advantages as a coastal city and its proximity to the South Korean capital. It is part of the Seoul National Capital Area, along with Seoul itself and Gyeonggi Province; as such, Incheon is the world’s fourth largest suburb by population after New Taipei, Yokohama, and Ekurhuleni.

Incheon has since led the economic development of Korea by opening its port to the outside world, ushering in the modernisation of Korea as a centre of industrialisation. The city was designated as Korea’s first free economic zone in 2003. Since then, large local companies and global enterprises have increasingly invested in the Incheon Free Economic Zone, including Samsung which chose Songdo International City as its new investment destination for its bio industry.

Incheon has established itself as a major transportation hub in northeast Asia with the world renowned Incheon International Airport and Incheon Port. The city is also home to the Green Climate Fund, an international organisation addressing environmental issues.

Incheon is the second biggest port city in Korea, and the first Korean city to experience true modernizing. Wolmido Island and Yeonan Pier are top tourist attractions of Incheon and the Incheon International Airport, Incheon Bridge and Incheon Songdo International City, a free economic zone, have recently emerged to show a new side of Incheon. Once getting on the Incheon City Tour bus, you will have a chance to see all of Incheon’s tourist attractions!

The arrival of Asian Games will establish Incheon as a world tourist destination as thousands of sportsmen and women, officials, coaches and media personalities will head towards this beautiful South Korean city for the Asian Games.

Incheon is the third South Korean city to host Asian Games after the capital Seoul, which held the 10th Asian Games from September 20 to October 5, 1986 and Busan which hosted the 14th edition of the Games from September 29 to October 14, 2002.

In fact, South Korea is only the second country to host most number of Asian Games (3) behind Thailand which had hosted Asian Games in 1966, 1970, 1978 and 1998, the year in which Sri Lanka bagged three gold medals in sprints. India, Japan and China have hosted Asian Games twice each.

But the honour of hosting the inaugural Games goes to South Asia with India becoming the proud host of the first-ever Games in New Delhi March 4 to 11, 1951 with 489 sportsmen and women from 11 countries competing in six disciplines.

Since then, the Asian Games has gone from strength to strength to become second only to the Olympic Games. Hence, many call it the Asian version of Olympics. It has now reached the peak with the presence of 45 nations fielding nearly 10,000 participants in 42 disciplines.

Far East Championships had been the sporting platform in Asia from 1913 to 1934 which faced a natural death with the outbreak of World War II. Since the end of the war a number of Asian countries became independent. With their economies and cultures developing gradually, Asians had an increasing desire to become less isolated from each other and strengthen mutual intercourse.

To keep abreast of the times, the then Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, proposed an Asian sports meet in 1947 at a conference on relations between Asian countries. In August 1948, during the 14th Olympic Games in London, India proposed to sports leaders of the Asian teams the idea of inaugurating Asian Games to carry the sporting image of the continent.

They agreed to form the Asian Athletic Federation and hold the first Asian Athletic Championships in New Dehli, India, in 1949. A preparatory committee was set up to draft the charter for the Asian Amateur Athletic Federation. In February, 1949, the Asian Amateur Athletic Federation was formally formed, and its name was changed to the Asian Athletic Federation. It was decided to hold the first Asian Games in 1950 in New Dehli, the capital of India. Since then the Asian Games has been regularly held once every four years.

In the four remaining articles of the Countdown to the Asian Games series to be published in our sister paper the Daily News from tomorrow, we will take a quick look at the past 16 Asian Games and the top performing nations.