The Asian Games is a multi-sports competition in Asia and the largest Asian sporting event, hosted by the member countries of the Olympic Council of Asia on a rotating basis every four years. Since 1951, it has been successfully held for 18 times.

The predecessor of the Asian Games was the Far Eastern Games. Initiated by the Philippine Sports Association in 1911, it was held alternately in Manila, Philippines, Shanghai, China, and Osaka, Japan. 

After the Second World War, as people’s life turned peaceful after recovering from the trauma of war, sports became more and more active, and the Olympic Games resumed once again after being suspended for 12 years because of war. It was against this historical background that the desire to form a unified leading organization for sports in Asia emerged from the Asian sports community to promote the development of sports in Asia.

During the 1948 London Olympic Summer Games, the sports community of China and the Philippines planned to resume the Far Eastern Games and discussed with the sports communities from other Asian countries. Guru Dutt Sondhi, then the leader of Indian sports, felt that the Far Eastern Games were not good enough to reflect the level of Asian sports and the unity spirit of Asian people, and suggested Asian Games be established so that all Asian countries could participate.

He visited the representatives of Asian sports who came to London to participate in the Olympic summer games and invited representatives from 13 Asian countries and regions to hold a preparatory meeting on the establishment of an Asian sports organization. In the meeting, relevant documents and regulations of the Asian Games were drafted, and it was decided that the first Asian Games was to be held in New Delhi, capital of India, in February 1949, and later postponed to 1951.

In February 1949, representatives of sports from different Asian countries met in New Delhi, where the "Asian Amateur Sports Federation" was formally established. The Federation was later renamed the Asian Games Federation and in 1981 the Asian Olympic Council.

The 1st Asian Games was held in New Delhi in March 1951 with only 489 participants. By the 8th time in 1978, the number of participants had exceeded 4,000. Today, Asian athletes have become a force that cannot be ignored in the world sports arena.