Occur every 2 years | ||
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First event Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 25–30 October 2001 Last event Singapore on 3–9 December 2015 Website www.aseanparasports.org | ||
The ASEAN Para Games is a biannual multi-sport event held after every Southeast Asian Games for Southeast Asian athletes with physical disabilities. The games are participated by eleven Southeast Asian nations - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam. The games, patterned after the Paralympic Games, are played by physically challenged athletes with spastic and cerebral palsy, mobility disabilities, visual disabilities, and the amputated.
Contents
- Background
- Logo
- List of participating countries
- All time medal table
- List of sports
- List of ASEAN Para Games
- References
The ASEAN Para Games is under the regulation of the ASEAN Para Sports Federation (APSF) and is traditionally hosted by the same country and sport venues where the Southeast Asian Games took place. Although it has been a norm for the Southeast Asian Games host nation to host the games, lack of accessible facilities or inexperience in catering to the needs for disabled sport triggered hosting city substitutions like Surakarta rather than Jakarta in the 2011 ASEAN Para Games, or a change of country such as Malaysia rather than Laos for the 2009 ASEAN Para Games.
The APG serves as a regional-level multi sport event to prepare physically challenged ASEAN athletes to compete in the Paralympic Games. Aside from promoting friendship and solidarity among persons with disabilities in the ASEAN region through sports, the Games also hopes to promote and develop sports for the differently-able, apart from to rehabilitating and integrating persons with disability into mainstream society through sports.
Background
In May 2000, the ASEAN Para Games and APSF were formed by President Datuk Zainal Abu Zarin during the 10th Malaysian Para Games. The games, the parallel sports event for the disabled after every Southeast Asian Games, was patterned after the Paralympic Games and now defunct Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled (FESPIC). The governing sports federation was established to support persons with disabilities at an ASEAN level. Both the games and the federation aim to promote friendship and solidarity among persons with disabilities in the ASEAN region through sports, promote and develop sports for the differently abled and rehabilitate and integrate persons with disability into mainstream society through sports.
Logo
The logo of the ASEAN Para Games is the logo of the ASEAN Para Sports Federation which depicts the ASEAN logo positioned in the center with the symbol and image of the 1994 to 2004 three pa Paralympic logo on top and a victory laurel surrounding the ASEAN logo and is used on all ASEAN Para Games edition logos begins 2008 onwards as the current symbol of the games. Previously, an unofficial symbol which depicts the 11 rings forming a red circle and resembled the red colour version of the Southeast Asian Games Federation logo was used on the logos of the 2003 ASEAN Para Games and 2005 ASEAN Para Games. Furthermore, another unofficial symbol, the 1994 to 2004 three pa International Paralympic Committee logo was used on the logo of the 2001 ASEAN Para Games.
List of participating countries
Eleven Southeast Asian countries have participated in the Para Games since the 2003 ASEAN Para Games which formally introduced Timor-Leste as a participating country.
All-time medal table
The table below accounts for the total number of medals awarded to all participating National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) of ASEAN member countries as of the recent 2015 ASEAN Para Games. The figures presented do not include medals awarded during the 2001 ASEAN Para Games and are yet to be added.
List of sports
Nineteen different sports have been part of the ASEAN Para Games in one point or another. Sixteen of which comprised the schedule of the recent 2015 ASEAN Para Games in Singapore. The games saw the return of sailing as a full medal sport once again after its debut at the 2009 ASEAN Games in Kuala Lumpur.
List of ASEAN Para Games
Eight participating countries have hosted the ASEAN Para Games. Malaysia has hosted two Para Games (2001, 2009), more than any nation, and is set to host its third games in 2017. The 5th ASEAN Para Games last 2009 were to be hosted by Laos, but it begged off from hosting the games due to financial difficulty and inexperience in providing necessary support for athletes with disabilities, therefore the games were brought back in Malaysia for the second time after eight years.
Philippines has hosted one (2005) Para Games, and is set to host its second games in 2019. Vietnam (2003), Thailand (2008), Indonesia (2011), Myanmar (2014) and Singapore (2015) have hosted their first ASEAN Para Games. Brunei, Cambodia, Laos and Timor-Leste have yet to host their first para games.