BEIJING: Kabaddi was the surprise new sport at the Asian Games. But along with the two other debutants, wushu and speak takraw, it is being forced back into Asian sport’s second division,

A final schedule will be agreed in 1992, but their federations will need a strong bargaining weapon to get changes made.

Hiroshima Organisers appear adamant, but with every Asiad the issue of new sports is a topic of controversy for the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).

Akiyuki Moriwaki, Under Secretary General of the Hiroshima Organizing Committee, said: “We have already announced 25 sports to be competed in Hiroshima. They don’t include wushu, Kabaddi or speak takraw.

“We may expand the programme slightly, but there have been requests from 10 federations to include Kabaddi, speak takraw and wushu. These include karate and modern pentathlon.

Baseball, which was a demonstration sport in Beijing, could also make it on to the final list.

“A final decision will be made by the OCA meeting in 1992, but there has been a lot of argument over the merits of including purely regional sports.

 “Some believe the traditional sports should be included and some say the Asian Games should stay closer to the Olympic movement.”

The Hiroshima programme includes equestrian events and bowling, which were not seen in Beijing although they did feature in Seoul in 1986.

Officials from the three threatened federations are reluctant to comment publicly because they

Still hope to change the minds of the Hiroshima Organizers.

But one federation chief said: “This is typical. Each time the new sports are used as a bargaining tool or to get extra gold medals for the host country.”

He highlighted that events such as karate were ones where Japan would undoubtedly pick up bonus gold medals outside the principal sports. “China did the same with wushu,” he said.

Each games host choose two sports and has strong influence over the rest of the list. China chose the martial art wushu, where it took all six gold’s, and speak takraw.

Malaysia won only two gold medals and they both came from speak takraw a game similar to volleyball.

Article extracted from this publication >> October 26, 1990