1978 Asian Games

VIII Asian Games

Host city	Bangkok, Thailand
Nations participating	25
Athletes participating	3,842
Events	199 in 19 sports
Opening ceremony	December 9
Closing ceremony	December 20
Officially opened by	King Bhumibol Adulyadej
Main venue	Suphachalasai Stadium
<  1974 1982  >

The 8th Asian Games were held from December 9, 1978 to December 20, 1978 in Bangkok, Thailand. Originally, the host city was Singapore but Singapore dropped its plan to host the Games due to financial problems. And then Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan was decided to host the 8th Games. But Islamabad also dropped its plan to host the Asian Games due to conflicts with Bangladesh and India.

Thailand offered to help and the Asiad therefore was held in Bangkok. On the political front, Israel was expelled from the Asian Games. A total number of 3,842 athletes, coming from 25 countries, competed in these Asian Games. Debuting sports were archery and bowling.^[1]

Sports

Archery (4) () Athletics (39) () Badminton (7) () Basketball (2) () Bowling (10) () Boxing (11) () Cycling (6) () Diving (4) () Fencing (8) () Field hockey (1) () Football (1) ()

Gymnastics (14) () Sailing (4) () Shooting (22) () Swimming (29) () Table tennis (7) () Tennis (7) () Volleyball (2) () Water polo (1) () Weightlifting (10) () Wrestling (10) ()

Participating nations

25 out of 32 Olympic Council of Asia members participated in these games. Iran just sent only one official and did not participate in the games due to the political situation in Iran at the time.^[2]

Bahrain Bangladesh Burma China (408) Hong Kong India Indonesia Iraq Japan (460)

Kuwait Lebanon (3) Malaysia Mongolia Nepal North Korea Pakistan Philippines Qatar

Saudi Arabia Singapore (76) South Korea Sri Lanka Syria Thailand United Arab Emirates

Medal table

The top ten ranked NOCs at these Games are listed below. The host nation, Thailand, is highlighted.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Japan (JPN)	70	59	49	178
2	China (CHN)	51	54	46	151
3	South Korea (KOR)	18	20	31	69
4	North Korea (PRK)	15	13	15	43
5	Thailand (THA)	11	12	19	42
6	India (IND)	11	11	6	28
7	Indonesia (INA)	8	7	18	33
8	Pakistan (PAK)	4	4	9	17
9	Philippines (PHI)	4	4	6	14
10	Iraq (IRQ)	2	4	6	12
Total		201	199	226	626

References

1. "8th Asian Games Bangkok 1978". Olympic Council of Asia. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
2. "Pomp and Pageantry Fit for a King ...". The Straits Times. 10 December 1978. Retrieved 12 July 2012.

External links

• www.ocasia.org