FESPIC Games

FESPIC Games
Motto Overcoming Challenges, Inspiring Others
First event 1975
Occur every four years
Last event 2006 9th FESPIC Games in Kuala Lumpur
Purpose Multi-sport event, Far East and South Pacific Games for persons with disability
Headquarters Malaysia
APC President Dato’ Zainal Abu Zarin
Website FESPIC Federation

The FESPIC Games[1] or the Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled, was the biggest multi-sports games in the Asia and South Pacific region.

The FESPIC Games, which started in 1975, was held nine times and bowed out a success[2] in December 2006, at the conclusion of the 9th FESPIC Games[3] in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

For Asian countries, the FESPIC Games was replaced by the Asian Para Games starting with the inaugural 1st Asian Para Games in 2010 in Guangzhou, China after the 16th Asian Games. The Asian Para Games, the parallel event for athletes with physical disabilities, is a multi-sport event held every four years after every Asian Games. The FESPIC and Asian Games had adopted the strategy used by the Olympic and Paralympic Games of having both games in the same city.

Objectives

History

The first FESPIC Games was held in Oita, Japan in 1975. There were limited opportunities for persons with disabilities in Asia and the Pacific to participate in sports at the time. The FESPIC Games was launched to address this issue and promote understanding toward disabled persons in each country, as well as improve their social welfare.

The number of participant countries increased during FESPIC history. Central Asian countries Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan, first participated in the 7th FESPIC Games in 1999. The Middle Eastern countries were allowed to compete in the 9th FESPIC Games in 2006, along with Timor-Leste. Middle East countries were previously not allowed to compete in FESPIC Games from 1975 to 2002 because these countries were Africa/Middle Eastern members.

Year Dates City/ Country Nations Participants
1st 1975 June 1 – 3 Oita & Beppu, Japan 18 973
2nd 1977 November 20–26 Parramatta, Sydney, Australia 16 430
3rd 1982 October 31 – November 7 Sha Tin, Hong Kong 23 744
4th 1986 August 31 – September 7 Surakarta, Indonesia 19 834
5th 1989 September 15–20 Kobe, Japan 41 1,646
6th 1994 September 4–10 Beijing, China 42 2,081
7th 1999 January 10–16 Bangkok, Thailand 34 2,258
8th 2002 October 26 – November 1 Busan, Korea 40 2,199
9th 2006 November 25 – December 1 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 46 3,641

and one edition from Youth Games

Year Dates City/ Country Nations Participants
1st 2003 December 24 – 27 Kowloon and Sha Tin, Hong Kong 15 584
Wheelchair tennis, a Paralympic sport

The FESPIC Games later on became the springboard for athletes from Asia and the Pacific to dream big and to reach the Paralympic Games. Disabled sailing in Asia is one such sport. Teams from Australia,[4] China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore started in the 2006 FESPIC Games and consistently performed to sail in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, with Australian Rachel Cox and her helmsman winning the Silver[5] in the 2-person Keelboat event.

"As participation in disabled sailing grows in that area of the world, the event is being considered as a developmental competition and will be sailed in the Access Liberty, of which 18 will be supplied at the event for competitors entering. ... As a development sport at the event, and as disabled sailing is still in a developing form in FESPIC countries, the competition will be open to any sailor who is able to be classified under the IFDS Functional Classification System.[6]

The 9th FESPIC Games was the last and final edition of the series which took place in 2006. For Asian countries, the FESPIC Games was replaced by the Asian Para Games, starting with the inaugural 2010 Asian Para Games which was held in 2010 Guangzhou, China after the 16th Asian Games.

Sports

Target Sports

Water Sports

Ball Sports

See also

References

  1. ↑ What is FESPIC Games?
  2. ↑ Closure of FESPIC Federation
  3. ↑ 9th Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled (FESPIC) Games
  4. ↑ Lara Watts, Thursday, 30 November 2006 (2006-11-30). "Silver and two bronze for Australian sailors at FESPIC Games". Yachting.org.au. Retrieved 2011-12-09.
  5. ↑ Schedules and Results – Sailing, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
  6. ↑ "Sailing To Be Included In FESPIC Games". Sailing.org. 2004-05-28. Retrieved 2011-12-09.

External links

Preceded by
FESPIC Games (2006)

Kuala Lumpur

 Asian Para Games
Guangzhou
First Asian Para Games (2010) 		Succeeded by
2nd Asian Para Games (2014)
Incheon
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