New Delhi: Weiqi, xiangqi, kurash. Not familiar with these words? These are all different disciplines of sports that were held in the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Of the 40 disciplines of sports that were contested in the 2023 edition, quite a few do not feature in the Olympic Games. Such sports disciplines celebrate the rich culture of diverse Asian regions.
Let’s start with India. Our own Kabaddi, though not a part of the Olympics, has been a regular feature of the Asian Games. No Indian needs any introduction to Kabaddi. The sport became a regular feature of the Asian Games since Beijing 1990. A sport largely cited as of Indian origin, India has always dominated in the Asiads till the 2018 Games when the Iranians pulled off a stunning gold medal win against the reigning champions.
This year, though, both the men’s and women’s teams of India managed to win the gold in this discipline. The men’s team won the gold in the final against Iran but under controversial circumstances. Be that as it may, Kabaddi is gaining popularity in Asian countries over the years.
Ahead of the Hangzhou Games, tickets for the event were sold out before September 24, the first match day, reflecting its popularity among the Chinese people. In fact, the Xiaoshan district in Hangzhou held over 100 Kabaddi events in schools and villages ahead of the Asian Games. Over 500 schools participated in these events to promote the game.
“Kabaddi requires both teamwork and individual skills, and some children have become addicted to it,” Wang Yubin, the deputy secretary-general of China’s National Kabaddi Sports Promotion Committee, was quoted as saying by the Global Times.
Trivia: which country’s national sport is Kabaddi? Correct answer: Bangladesh! Apart from Kabaddi, other non-Olympic contact sports that featured in this year’s Asian Games were jujitsu and kurash.
For those unfamiliar with martial arts, jujitsu, also known as jiu-jitsu and ju-jitsu, is a family of martial arts and a system of close combat. There are two versions of this sport. Though this sport originated in Japan, there is a Brazilian version as well. Japanese jujitsu is suitable for real-life combat situations. It is often taught in a very traditional setting where discipline is greatly valued. Brazilian jujitsu (or jiu-jitsu as it is called in the South American country), on the other hand, is primarily used for sport with a primary focus on grappling. Hollywood actors Naomi Watts, Demi Lovato, Ashton Kutcher and Keanu Reeves are among the popular practitioners of jiu-jitsu.
Like Kabaddi, jujitsu is still not an Olympic discipline. Why? To be an Olympic sport, it must have a global following. It cannot be dominated by just one country, or only have a following in a few countries.
Another non-Olympic contact sport that featured in the Hangzhou Games was Kurash. Kurash refers to a number of folk wrestling styles practised in Central Asia. Traditionally, Kurash wrestlers use towels to hold their opponents, and their goal is to throw their opponents off the feet.
Officially though, the sport is contested between two competitors, who wear jackets of different colours. Though drawing a blank in Hangzhou, India had actually won two medals when the sport was first introduced in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games. Pincky had bagged a silver in the women’s 52 kg category and Malaprabha Jadhav picked a bronze in the same category.
Leaving aside contact sports, two non-Olympic team sports that featured in the Hangzhou Games were cricket, mainly played between Commonwealth nations, and sepak takraw, popular in Southeast Asia.
The Bangladesh men’s team won the gold when cricket was first introduced in the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games while Sri Lanka won it in the 2014 Incheon Asian Games in South Korea. The women’s team of Pakistan won the gold both in 2010 and 2014. Cricket was not included in the 2018 due to organisational problems.
And this year, India participated in cricket for the first time in the Asian Games. Both the Indian men’s and women’s teams won gold. The Indian men’s team, though, won the gold based on its International Cricket Council (IIC) rankings after the final against Afghanistan was washed out on Saturday.
Sepka takraw is a team sport that combines elements of volleyball, football, and martial arts. The game is played with a small rattan ball, similar to a wicker ball, and two teams (called regu) of three players each. The objective of sepak takraw is to score points by sending the ball over the net and into the opposing team's court in a way that it cannot be returned.
Players use their feet, head, knees, and any other part of their body except their hands and arms to strike the ball. In the Hangzhou Games, the Indian women’s team won the bronze after losing to Thailand, the defending champions, in the semifinals. This was India’s second medal in the Asian Games sepak takraw after the men’s regu team had bagged a bronze in Jakarta 2018.
Another non-Olympic sport in which India won laurels this time around was squash. The Indian squash team won two gold, one silver and two bronze in various squash events in the Hangzhou Games. You might well ask: how come squash is not an Olympic discipline? The governing body of squash, the World Squash Federation (WSF), is recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), but the sport is not part of the Olympic Games, despite a number of applications. Supporters continue to lobby for its incorporation into the future Olympic programme.
This year, four mind games were introduced in the Asian Games for the first time – bridge, chess, go and xiangqi. Bridge and chess need no introduction. Go or weiqi is an abstract strategy board game for two players in which the aim is to surround more territory than the opponent. The game was invented in China more than 4,500 years ago and is believed to be the oldest board game continuously played to the present day.
Xiangqi, commonly known as Chinese chess or elephant chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is the most popular board game in China. Xiangqi is in the same family of games as shogi, janggi, Western chess, and chaturanga. Besides China and areas with significant ethnic Chinese communities, this game is also a popular pastime in Vietnam, where it is known as co tuong, literally 'general’s chess’'
They say that the 21st century is the Asian century. The 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games has been one manifestation of that.
